


The Wrong Mistake

by RumbelleDearie



Category: Cardinal (TV 2017), Original Work
Genre: Because there is a murder victim people, Canon-Typical Violence, Cunnilingus, Declarations Of Love, Detectives, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Investigations, Kidnapping, Murder Mystery, Slow Burn, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, What's That?, communication?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24389644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RumbelleDearie/pseuds/RumbelleDearie
Summary: They had been living together for two months now.Not in a romantic way. Absolutely not.John's just been so lonely after Catherine died. And Lise, well, she’s always been lonely.And they're friends. Best friends.AU after Season 3: John Cardinal and Lise Delorme have become a lot closer professionally and personally, but when a young girl goes missing in Algonquin Bay their relationship is forced to make some changes. Will John and Lise be able to find the girl before it's too late? Will they have another murder on their hands? And why does this case seem somewhat familiar?
Relationships: John Cardinal & Lise Delorme, John Cardinal/Lise Delorme
Comments: 53
Kudos: 41





	1. Zoe

**Author's Note:**

> The finale of Cardinal made me sad because I will miss these babies. Writing this helped me cope with the series ending. It was not beta edited so there will be mistakes. This story is my own, I'm just playing with the brilliant characters.

Bushes scraped at her bare legs as if they were trying to catch her. Her breath was uneven and visible in the early morning cold. It felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest any moment, her ears ringing, her limbs shaking.  _ Run. Run. Run.  _ Screamed the voice in her head. It was all she could think about. She had mud all over her knees, mixed with blood from the fall she had taken at the last bend. He had almost caught her then. Fear spread through her body, but she couldn’t give into the urge to scream. He would hear her and if he heard her, he would find her. 

She had to reach the edge of the forest where she would be safe, where she would survive. Silent tears streamed down her face and her body ached in places she didn’t want to think about ever again.  _ Almost there _ . 

She had no clue if he was close, only that she had a short head start. His small, devilish smile appeared in her mind, like a predator looking at his meal right before he devours it.  _ Run. _ Trees flashed by, wet leaves from the rainstorm the night before hitting her face, her toes sinking into the soft earth.  _ Were those footsteps? _ Her head turned and then her eyes found him, only a few meters behind.  _ And was that a smile?  _ Panic like she had never felt before grabbed her and she ran even faster. But the moment she looked around again, he was gone. Her feet didn’t stop. She turned around a tree, the edge of the forest in reach, and then suddenly those two eyes found hers again and everything went black. 

* * *

They had been living together for two months now. 

Not in a romantic way. Absolutely not. 

He’s just been so lonely after Catherine died. And Lise, well, she’s always been lonely. 

And they’re friends. Best friends. 

Platonic movie nights and late night conversations had unintentionally morphed into this co-dependence where Delorme had just ended up staying at his house for hours. So moving in together seemed like the logical solution. 

And when Lise cried out at night, seeing Amy’s face in her nightmares, the gun pointed at them, their hands clenched tightly together; John was there to wake her up. And John, John was less,  _ broken _ . 

So it was easy. 

Lise didn’t have to pay a ridiculous rent and, for now, she decided to permanently stay in Algonquin Bay. She helped pay for the groceries and she helped pay the bills; it was almost easier for John too. 

Kelly thought it was odd.

But every time she teased her old man about his  _ hot _ partner living in his daughter’s old bedroom, John would just reply:  “We’re partner’s Kel.”

And that was it.

They were partners. 

It wasn’t that big of a deal. 

* * *

The office noticed it immediately. The fact that they would arrive together,  _ consistently _ . It had been gossiped about for weeks until Lise had told Dyson to change her address and home phone number to that of Cardinals. That put an end to the gossip, but it didn’t stop the sideways glances and curious stares. Nevertheless, they acted the same at work. Professional. They were still a good team. Even McLeod began to stop wondering. 

Grown adults could live together platonically. 

* * *

“New case,” Dyson said as she dropped a manila file folder onto Lise’s desk.

Lise looked up at Dyson, then around her computer to see Cardinal’s face, his glasses sitting on the end of his nose. Dyson followed the detective’s line of sight.

“I don’t really care which one of you takes the lead on this,” Dyson said evenly, knowing that Delorme and Cardinal had their own system. “It’s a probable missing person. Zoe Carter’s parents reported her missing last night, but it’s been nearly 48 hours since they last saw her.”

Delorme opened the file. “Zoe Carter, aged twenty-one,” she read out loud for Cardinal’s benefit, “she goes to Nipising University, and works at a flower store in town.” Delorme handed over the file, noticing the way Cardinal thumbed the picture of the young brunette. 

John swallowed. “It’s your turn to take lead,” he said absentmindedly, lost in the image of the smiling young woman. 

“Okay,” Lise nodded.

“I’ve already arranged for you to meet with the parents.” Dyson turned her wrist over to get a better view of her watch. “They’re expecting you at ten, so you have time to get some background on the case. Let me know what you think we’re dealing with when you get back from the meeting; if I need to put more guys on this, or if we think she’s another runaway.” Dyson nodded her head, shifting once to a preoccupied Cardinal before she turned around and began to head towards her office. She stopped cold, turning around and raising a finger, “Oh,” Dyson added, “and you’ll have Constable Fox if you need him.”

Delorme nodded her head. “Conference room?” she asked Cardinal who looked up as if he only half heard her.

“Yes,” he replied, his voice horse, but more gravely than usual. 

* * *

“So what do we think?” Lise prompted, noting how stiff John’s back was. He had been reading the file, but it didn’t appear as if his eyes were moving over the information. “First impressions?”

John cleared his throat. “School transcripts indicate she’s a good student; she won a literary award for her creative writing; she helps run the University's newspaper. She’s an involved kid. According to the initial phone call, parent’s last saw her on her way to work.”

“You don’t think she’s the type?” Lise questioned, attuned to John’s thought process. 

“On paper,” John finally looked up from the image of the girl, “no, I don’t think she’s the type to runaway.”

“Right then.” Lise closed her own file. “Let’s talk to the parents, get more information, and let Dyson know if she should start a search.”

Delorme stood up and tucked in her chair. She had thought her last sentence implied they were going to head out now, but Cardinal still sat in his chair, eyes foggy with the image of a young girl with brown hair. 

“The file John,” Lise prompted in that tone of voice that always made her sound stern or serious, even though she was trying to be gentle.  She was his partner. She knew something was off. And because she knew Cardinal, she knew he wouldn't talk about it until he was ready.

“Right,” John pulled his glasses off and ran a hand over his face, his fingers touching the bristle of his beard. “Right.” He tossed the file on the table.

“Come on, I’m driving.”

* * *

“We’re out of creamer.” Lise said blankly, breaking the focused silence. “Do you think you could pick it up this weekend?” 

It was Cardinal’s turn to do the shopping. Sometimes they went together, but Lise was planning to visit her mother on the weekend, even if she didn’t want to. Her parents knew absolutely nothing about her living relationship with Cardinal, and Lise was going to keep it that way. 

“Of course,” Cardinal replied, studying the houses as they drove by, getting a sense for the area.

Lise rounded onto a cul-de-sac before pulling into the driveway of number 208 Brichview. Constable Fox was already standing outside the house, the screen door the only thing preventing the early May chill from seeping in. It had been a very wet spring and the air was damp, waiting for the summer humidity to build momentum. 

The house was part of a subdivision and the grey brick and stucco all seemed to blend together, except for number 208’s abundance of empty flower pots, garden beds, and wind chimes.

Cardinal and Delorme stepped out of the car. 

“They’re waiting for you,” Fox said as he held open the door for the detectives and followed them inside of the house. 

Cardinal and Delorme passed down the hallway and ducked right into the living room. A woman was seated there, in an armchair, her face turned, looking out the window. A middle aged man wearing a green knit sweater, rounded at his belly, entered with a tray of mismatched tea cups and a bowl of loose sugar. 

“Detectives are here Diane,” the man said, but the woman with tawny hair remained unmoved. He set the tray down on a coffee table cluttered with television remotes and outdoor living magazines. “I think she keeps expecting to see Zoe turn up. She’s not come home before, but she’s always told us so, that’s what didn’t sit well with us last night, we haven't heard a word from her, or any of her friends.”

Cardinal found it unusual that the father was so readily giving out information, he hadn’t even had time to introduce himself and his partner. Usually when they did these sort of interviews the families let the police take the lead, most of them were in shock, or too surrounded by their own fears to make the first move. Mr. Carter seemed to think this was all just a peculiar turn of events. 

John cleared his throat. “Mr. Carter, Mrs. Carter, my name is John Cardinal, this is my partner Lise Delorme, we’re the detectives assigned to your daughter’s case.”

“Oh right, how silly of me!” Arnold Carter’s round cheeks flushed. “I didn’t even give you a moment to sit down before I started rambling off about Zoe. Please, take a seat.” He gestured to the sofa against the far wall. 

Delorme and Cardinal made their way over, John let Lise pass in front of him, the back of her blazer tickling his stomach as he made sure he could be seated closer to Mrs. Carter, he felt a kindred spirit in her stillness. 

Lise began her questioning, while John followed Mrs. Carter’s gaze to the end of the driveway. 

“When was the last time you saw your daughter?”

Arnold sat down in his chair, his knees cracking as he went. “She left for work Saturday at nine in the morning on her bicycle - it’s mint coloured by the way.” 

Lise jotted down  _ mint _ . “And you reported her missing…”

“Yesterday, Sunday night. When she wasn’t home again by dinner time, Diane began to really worry. Zoe’s spent the night at friends before,” Arnold cleared his throat, his sweater bunching up at his neck, “probably a few boys houses too, but she  _ always  _ lets her mom know she wouldn’t be home.” Arnold took a chance glance towards his wife who watched as a robin began to peck at seed in one of the bird feeders. 

“Boys you say?” Lise raised a smug eyebrow. 

“Well, you know young girls...” Arnold seemed to eye Lise a little longer than was necessary and this seemed to spike Cardinal’s interest.

But Lise beat him to the question of clarification. “What do you mean by that Mr. Carter?”

“I just mean,” he struggled to find the right words to explain himself, “she was a woman, an adult. We let her be an adult.”

Lise could work with that. “And as an adult, what if she chose to leave?”

“She didn’t run away.” The woman in the corner of the room finally spoke up. She turned her head to Cardinal, speaking softly. “All Zoe had to do was ask and we would have let her leave. We would have even given her some money. She knows that. We trust each other. She’s a good girl and she hasn’t answered her phone.”

“Do you think your daughter might be in trouble Mrs. Carter?” John rasped. 

“I know that I should be frightened, I know that I should be worried, but, it just doesn’t seem quite real yet.”

She was in shock. 

Cardinal took a breath.  _ How could he explain to her that this was very real. Even if Zoe did turn up at a friends house tomorrow, it was still very real.  _ “Did you notice any unusual behaviour lately?” But Mrs. Carter shifted her head back to the window. John tried to bring her attention back by forcing her to  _ feel _ . “You seem very close to your daughter Mrs. Carter, did Zoe confide in you? Was there a change in her routine, or anything out of the ordinary?” 

Mrs. Carter shook her head. 

When it was clear Diane wasn’t going to answer, Arnold spoke up. “Not that I can think of. She was the same cheerful girl she has always been the past few days.” 

John was slightly suspicious by Mr. Carter’s ignorance, whereas, Mrs. Carter’s silence spoke volumes; it hinted at a drifting between mother and daughter. Cardinal had witnessed that first hand. 

“We already contacted her brother Tyler in Toronto. He lives there with his fiance, he said Zoe’s not with him.”

Lise made a note of that to have an officer follow up with the brother. “She works in a flower shop,” Lise flipped through her information, “Everly Florals, was everything okay there? No problems with her employer or customers?” 

Diane shook her head again. This wasn’t helping at all. 

“Mrs. Carter,” John spoke to her as if she were still listening, having the mother’s permission was important to him. “Would we be able to see your daughter’s room? Perhaps collect her computer, a few things that might tell us where she might be, or with who?”

Diane nodded her head.

“It’s right this way.” Mr. Carter answered this time and walked ahead of them, leading them upstairs to Zoe’s room. 

* * *

The walls were a light lavender. The cushioned headboard of the Queen sized bed rested against the far wall, a tall boy to the right and a nightstand to the left. Next to the door was a glass desk with a laptop on it. Adjacent to the bed was a large bookshelf, filled with books and journal notebooks. Lise stepped into the room, picking up one of the notebooks.

“These look like stories.”

Cardinal nodded, noticing all the quotes, printed pictures and posters that Zoe had pinned to the walls. “She's in a creative writing program.”

Lise began to collect the notebooks, maybe they would get lucky and one was more of a diary then a place for Zoe’s fictional work. 

“There aren’t very many personal pictures in her room.” John noted, and it reminded him of Kelly’s room - before Lise had moved into it. Kelly was so rarely at the house back then, her room had always been quite void of personal items. 

“There,” Lise pointed to a framed picture on Zoe’s desk. 

Cardinal picked up the silver frame. “Friends?” he suggested, looking at the image of Zoe standing between a young man with his hair combed high and a young girl with dyed blond hair.

“We’ll ask the father.”

Cardinal nodded, attempting to gain a sense of Zoe and where she might have gone, or who might have _ taken _ her.

“Don’t forget the computer,” Lise said, sensing Cardinal needed some time. 

* * *

They had told Dyson to start a search. 

After lunch they’d gotten in touch with Zoe’s two best friends, Noah Delgotti and Samantha Brooks. Both leads didn’t pan out. Zoe wasn’t staying with them and they hadn’t seen her since the Friday before she was reported missing. But Samantha had mentioned something about a guy - at least she had her suspicions, but Zoe hadn’t confided in her yet. It was better than nothing. 

After that Cardinal and Delorme spent a few hours helping the patrol units canvas the areas near Zoe’s house. They had also sent the canine unit into the woods. In Algonquin Bay, the woods were always the first place you looked for a body - not that Cardinal and Delorme had thought that was what they were looking for. It was procedure up North. 

They returned to the office after canvassing. They had to wait for the other units to finish before they found out if they got any concrete leads - Cardinal and Delorme hadn’t gotten anything more from her neighbours except that Zoe always took her bike with her.

Back at the office they began to make a game plan. They had already cataloged Zoe’s computer into evidence, the tech guys would be working on that all night. Meanwhile Lise and John scrolled through Zoe’s social media accounts and her notebooks. They also set up interview appointments with the university and Zoe’s work; they needed a detailed strategy for tomorrow if they were going to find this girl quickly.

It had been a long day and it felt like they had accomplished nothing. 

“Come on,” Cardinal finally said, standing up and turning off the TV monitor in the conference room that displayed Zoe’s Facebook page. “It’s getting late and you’re probably hungry. I’ll cook tonight.”

Lise couldn’t help but look up and smile. “You always cook.”

“That’s because you don’t know how to season to save your life.” 

Lise laughed. 

It’s not that Delorme was a bad cook, she could do it when she needed to, but it was usually simple and quick. John had more patience. He was also used to cooking for himself, cooking to feed Kelly. 

He was used to taking care of other people. 

* * *

He struggled with the key, the smell of dinner reaching his nostrils as he first stepped inside the house. The humming that came from the kitchen formed a smile on his lips. He had had a long day and he deserved some rest. He set his briefcase down, next to his mother’s knitting basket in the living room. Yes, Dameon was in his thirties but he loved living with his mom. It meant he could come home and lie on the couch with a beer in his hand and watch football. It was a good system; his mom did all the work at home and he made the money. 

She gave him a warm smile when he walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek.

“Welcome home honey. How was your day?”

“Nothing special, same old same old.” He shrugged.

“You left the house early this morning,” her bright green eyes looked sad. It was their routine to eat breakfast together.

“Just a little problem, but I fixed it.” She nodded, but still had a disappointed look on her face when she made their plates. He was always surprised at the amount of food she ate for a woman with such a thin figure. 

* * *

When they had gotten home John had gone straight to the kitchen. Lise had gone to her room - Kelly’s room - to take a shower. When she finished she brought their casework to the kitchen table. She smiled at John who was basting two chicken breasts with butter and thyme; John smiled back, her hair was damp and sticking to the sides of her face. 

Smiling had become part of their routine. 

“You think she’s in trouble, don’t you?” Lise walked over to the stove and tossed the cut broccoli into the pot of steaming water. Her right hip barley brushed up against Cardinal’s leg. 

“Trouble? I’m not sure,” he turned his attention from the pan to Delorme, “but I am worried about her.”

Lise looked up, aware of John’s height as she waited for him to make eye contact. “You worry too much John.”

John let out a heavy breath. “Something doesn’t seem right Delorme. Her own parents aren’t convinced she’s missing. It seems like they're hiding something.”

Lise agreed. “What about this guy the best friend mentioned? Do we think it’s credible?”

John nodded his head. He was frustrated already. “Look, we’re not going to get anywhere if we look over the files tonight. Why don’t you put in a movie and we’ll eat in the living room? We’ll have an early start tomorrow.”

Delorme nodded, more than happy to leave John to do the cooking. 

* * *

“Delorme,” McLeod poked his head around the corner, “tech’s got something off your missing girl’s computer.”

Lise looked up at Cardinal, inclining her head as the wheels on her desk chair rolled, standing up to head towards the lab. 

“It was easy actually, she didn’t have anything hidden.” Dev said, leaning back in his chair. 

“What did you find?” Lise bent over the tech’s desk to get a better look at Zoe’s computer screen. 

“There’s a lot of stories, like in the notebooks, and school assignments.” Dev smiled that cocky grin of his when he knew he had a piece of information that would change a case. “But this is where it gets interesting.” Dev ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair, pulling something up on the computer screen. “She’s been using a messaging app, talking to two, what it appears to be, older men recently. This guy here,” Dev pointed to the username D_224, “they were talking about meeting up in person. It’s in some of her last messages.”

“This is good Dev!” Lise smiled with excitement and Dev looked up to her with admiration. 

Cardinal snickered.

“Can you find out who these guys are?” Lise asked, her accent thicker as her eagerness made her speak quicker. 

Dev’s grin returned. “I already did.” He pulled up the Facebook page of a man wearing a worn red flannel. He was muscular and had a trimmed beard. “Username D_224 is Daniel James Green, aged 37. He’s a construction worker for Jackson Diggs. Get this,” he paused for dramatic effect, “he lives at 63 Middlefield street, with his  _ wife _ and two kids.”

Delorme’s eyebrows shot up. “I wonder how his wife felt about him messaging a 21 year old girl?”

Cardinal ignored her rhetorical question. 

“They were trying to meet up,” Dev pulled up a pile of messages that he had flagged for evidence purposes. “Zoe said she was tired of just messaging, she wanted to know if they were ever going to take the next step.”

“She was pushing him?”

Dev cocked his head. “Well, from the way he was talking to her, it sure sounded like he wanted to meet up with her. If you know what I mean.” He winked awkwardly. 

“What about the second guy?” Cardinal spoke up.

“I’m still working on that,” Dev sounded dejected. “But their messages hadn’t progressed past light flirting yet. Whereas, this Daniel Green, he was sexting Zoe on a regular basis.” 

“This is a good lead.” Delorme lightly placed her hand on the tech’s shoulder. “Keep working on it Dev. Cardinal and I will check out the suspect.”

* * *

When they walked out of the lab, Delorme stopped Cardinal in the hallway. 

“What are you thinking?”

John’s jaw was tight, his ears twitched. “Dev has a crush on you and you shouldn’t encourage it.”

Delorme rolled her eyes. “Seriously John.”

John took a deep breath. “Zoe was hiding something.”

“Was?” 

The silence filled the tight hallway.

Cardinal didn’t respond, and Lise could see the guilt forming in the lines on his forehead. 

“You think one of these guys got her into some kind of trouble.”

“I do.”

* * *

The phone rang three times before someone picked up. 

“Hey Dad.”

His voice was soft with relief. “Hey Kel.”

“Is something wrong?” she asked immediately. Kelly always worried about her father; he put himself under too much stress. 

“No, everything’s fine.” He lied. “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Dad, something  _ is _ wrong.” Kelly said sternly, knowing better.

“Just a hard case Kelly, and I miss you.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, the sound of a door closing. 

“Listen Dad, why don’t I come up for a week? Exams are over and I have a little time off before my summer job starts.”

Cardinal felt his heart lift. “I’d really like that Kel.”

* * *

It had rained again last night; not a hard rain where the water droplets are thick and splash against your skin like bullets, but a gentle rain: a summer rain. There was mist in the air. The forest was still cool in the morning. The undergrowth was thick and green and covered in dew drops trailing off leaves and plunking into puddles. 

Despite the rain, the sun was rising in the sky. It was going to be a warm day, the suns rays were echoing down to earth and ringing in his ears. Running with the sun rise was one of his favorite things to do. He loved the way the sun would shift through the trees, and get stronger as the morning went on. 

He increased his pace, his feet treading harder into the soft dirt. He checked his apple watch, it had a been a recent treat to himself; the watch was great for tracking his heart rate and monitoring the distance of his runs. His fiance had thought it was too much of an expense, but he thought it was worth it.

He came to the big curve in the trail, the one that leads over the little wooden bridge and towards the edge of the forest. The wooden boards creaked as he ran across them, his thudding steps and speed causing the boards to bend with his weight. Just as he was about to exit the forest and jog up the road towards his house he noticed a little gleam. The sun had caught on a silver spoke of a bicycle wheel. 

He came to a stop, recognizing the energized beating of his heart as he walked a small distance down the road until the wheel became clearer. There, hidden in the overgrowth was a bicycle. 

It was odd, because this was a running trail, not a biking trail, and it was a girl’s bicycle, not a mountain bike.

The bike didn’t look abandoned, it still seemed brand new.

It looked like it was meant to be forgotten.

He stepped forward, brushing aside the leaves until he could get a better view of the mint bicycle.

He noticed a basket, with a little backpack in it. 

That was odd. 

Curiosity distracting him from his morning run and the list of wedding planning appointments he and his fiance had to take care of when he got back home, he reached into the basket and grabbed the backpack. 

Inside he found a wallet. Perhaps he would be able to return the bike to their rightful owner.

He pulled out a driver’s license and the backpack slipped from his unsteady fingers. 

* * *

“Adam Sweeney called in, found it while he was out running.” Fox told Delorme as he opened the drivers side door for her. Lise stepped out of the car. “He said he recognized Zoe’s license photo from the posters Mr. Carter had put up at the gym. He said he’d bought flowers from her before at Everly’s place and she also delivered a couple of bouquets to his fiance for him.”

“Thanks Fox, make sure you get his statement on the books.”

“Will do ma’am.” Fox nodded before leaving the detectives.

Cardinal pulled up the yellow police tape for Delorme, following after her into the crime scene. 

Forensics had already taken their pictures, put out their markers, and cleared away the overgrowth so they had better access to the bicycle. 

It was a mint green ladies bike, with a beige basket and shiny silver rims. It was just the kind of bike Kelly would have liked as a girl. 

“It’s definitely Zoe Carter’s bike. It matches the pictures her father gave us.” Lise turned her shoulder to see Cardinal better. “Looks like you might have been right.”

“Unfortunately.” 

“So the wallet was in the basket, right?” Lise asked. 

Cardinal nodded, swallowing away the annoying lump that had formed in his throat. 

“Where’s the wallet?” Lise asked Abby. 

Abby Harris walked over in her white suit, careful not to contaminate the scene. 

“Here you are detective.” She removed an evidence bag from the back of the white truck.

Delorme pulled out a pair of gloves from her back pocket and opened up the wallet. The crime scene investigators had already returned the driver’s license. Lise pulled it out. She stiffened slightly when she felt John’s suit jacket brush against her back, he was hovering over her, taking advantage of his tall frame in order to see the evidence. 

“Hmmm,” Lise muttered something French to herself as she opened up the main part of the wallet and pulled out a bus ticket.

“For Toronto.” Cardinal noted and Lise turned her head around to look up at him, noticing their faces were far too close for comfort. She turned her head back to the ticket. 

“May 11th,” she thumbed the date on the ticket, “that’s four days since she was reported missing.”

“But five days since the parents last saw her leave for work.”

“Tabarnak,” Lise cursed.

“We need to set up an appointment with Everly’s Florals.” Cardinal suggested, but Lise looked back at him with a sad expression falling onto her face. 

“First we need to notify the parents.”

* * *

Zoe Carter was officially documented as a missing person, under suspicious circumstances. 

Dyson had coordinated a meeting with the media outlets in order to get Zoe’s picture on TV and in the papers. 

Patrol officers were sent out on searches again, and volunteers were putting up posters.

Cardinal and Delorme had followed up with the bus ticket, but it had been paid for with cash. CCTV at the station showed no sign of Zoe or her bike. 

The lab had gotten some prints off the bicycle and the backpack, but it was looking like they would most likely be Zoe’s. 

There was no evidence of foul play.

But there was also no sign of Zoe. They still had no idea if Zoe Carter had left, or if she was taken. 

They didn’t even know if she was alive. 

Lise knew the statistics. It had already been five days.

* * *

As the sun began to set Dyson called off the searches for the night. She scheduled the patrols to start at 5:00 am the next morning. 

Dyson had told Cardinal and Delorme to head home. Their leads weren’t panning out and they couldn’t get any further until they interrogated their computer suspect and talked to Zoe’s work. 

* * *

Cardinal had forgotten to do the laundry last Sunday. He hated doing it in the middle of the week, but he knew he couldn’t keep putting it off. 

He woke up early so he could finish it before work.

At first they had done separate laundry. 

To keep some  _ things _ private. 

But that meant that sometimes they had five loads going a week. It was a waste of water, laundry detergent, and time.

So they had just decided to toss it all together and take turns. One load for colours, one for whites, and one for delicates.

As a result, John was seeing much more of Lise’s lacy underwear then he had ever thought he would.  _ How did one even fold the tiny panties? _

“John,” Lise poked her head into the door of the laundry room. 

Cardinal felt his skin flush. She had caught him with a pair in his hands. He hadn’t even heard her come down the stairs. John tossed the panties into the laundry bin, pulling a shirt out of the dryer and continuing as if nothing had changed.

“John,” Lise said again, and he recognized the somber expression on her face. “They found a body.”

* * *

There was always this small flicker of hope burning inside John. But this time it was different. This time the case got too close to home. 

So when they walked through the forest that morning - Delorme standing next to him, the sound of the wind whistling through the leaves - John wished with every step he took that it wasn’t her. That it wasn’t her body they would find. Because he knew that the moment he saw Zoe’s face, he would see Kelly’s instead. 

He knew it was wishful thinking. No one wanted this to end with a body. But it had been six days. No one else from Algonquin Bay was missing. There was no trace of Zoe. It was all in the facts. 

“ _ Oh merde! _ ” 

Cardinal heard the soft gasp of Lise, a sound he would recognise  _ anywhere _ . His heart started to beat faster while he looked around, trying to see what she saw, but there were only trees. He opened his mouth to ask the question, but then he saw her face. 

She was looking straight ahead of them, and she was looking up. 

“ _ Tabarnak! _ ” she cursed. 

He followed her line of sight and there it was. A flicker of movement as the body swayed out from behind one of the trees. His heart dropped. His jaw clenched. 

_ Fuck _ . 

It was a horrific sight. There, up in the tree,  _ hung _ her body. Her neck was at an odd angle because of the rope around her throat. Her face was white as silk, except for the dried blood and mud smeared across her skin. He closed his eyes, wishing somehow that this wasn’t real. But when he opened them again he knew that the piercing brown eyes looking empty at the ground would haunt him in his dreams, but they would belong to another young girl. 

  
  



	2. Daniel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their missing person's case has officially become a homicide investigation. Delorme does something she's never done before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, chapter two!

The patrol officers had set up and started securing the perimeter as soon as the body had been found. Meanwhile, forensics had been working for most of the morning, collecting their evidence and documenting with photos.

Delorme and Cardinal had suited up in their white coveralls. They were careful to only step on the blocks the team had already set up. 

“There are droplets of blood back there,” Abby pointed in the direction of the inner forest.

“You don’t think she was killed here?” Lise asked.

Abby let out a huff, as if the answer was obvious. “Well, I don’t think it was a suicide. The branch she’s dangling on is way too high for her to access on her own. There’s no chair, no stump, nothing for her to stand on.” 

“Oui, but without the autopsy we need evidence of a struggle to be sure.” 

Abby sent Delorme a smile before she turned to Cardinal. “Follow me.”

Abby took her steps one at a time, moving from the silver blocks with ease until she came to the last one. She continued walking, brushing a stray curl under her hood as she kept her eyes trained on the ground. 

“Look here,” she pointed to the grass. “There’s blood; vertical droplets, like from a bleeding wound.”

“Or a murder weapon?” Lise suggested boldly. 

John felt his heart rate pick up. He walked past Lise and Abby, following what looked like a trail of trampled grass. “Someone else was here,” he breathed to himself. “Look,” he pointed to a patch of forest dirt, “a shoe print.” He paused. “But our victim is  _ barefoot _ .”

“Christ,” Lise exhaled as she followed John, who followed the boot marks. 

Suddenly Cardinal came to a stop. He shouted back to Abby who was taking pictures of the boot print next to a ruler. “Abby, we need to get this spot marked off as well.”

Abby walked forward, noticing the clearing with scattered leaves, a bloody rock, and the earth stained with blood.

“Evidence of a struggle,” Delorme said solemnly. “She didn’t kill herself.”

“It doesn’t look like it, no.”

“Detectives, over here!” Abby waived them over as she crouched beside a bush some ten feet away from the probable murder scene. “There’s blood on the branches here, consistent with the scratches on the vic’s legs. She was here. She  _ ran _ by here.”

The three followed the trail of brushed leaves and more blood drops for another twenty steps or so until Cardinal stopped again. 

“She ran.” He noticed the imprint of a toe.  _ Barefeet _ . “She was here. She was fighting.” He turned to Lise, his eyes frantic in the way that meant his mind was piecing together possibilities. “This wasn’t a suicide. That’s what he wants us to think. She got away. Something about this,” he pointed to the clearing behind them with the rock and pool of blood that was being cataloged by Abby’s team, “it feels like it was a mistake. She’s been gone for six days. Was she kidnapped? Did she get out?”

“We don’t know for sure if it’s Zoe yet.”

Cardinal sighed, remembering how her brown hair had blown in front of her face in the wind. “It’s her.” 

* * *

Their car seemed to block out the sounds of the world around them. It was exactly the moment of peace John had needed as he watched them pull down Zoe’s body from the tree. 

Delorme put the keys in the engine, but she didn’t start the car. Instead she leaned back in her chair, the back of her bun bumping against the headrest. 

Cardinal cleared his throat. 

“She looks like Kelly.”

Lise only nodded, glad he was finally confiding in her. Delorme had her suspicions. She had seen the similarities herself when she looked at the photos of Zoe. But Lise knew for sure by the way Cardinal kept running his thumb over the image of Zoe’s smile. It was too familiar for him.

“I thought so too.” Lise said honestly. She didn’t lie to her partner - not since she had been investigating him - and she wasn’t about to start now. 

“I know I’m overreacting, my mind is letting me see the worst.” John let out a sarcastic huff of air. “Except for brown hair, brown eyes, and a pretty smile, what do they really have in common?”

Delorme agreed. “Sometimes that’s enough. Especially for a father.”

There was a moment of silence between them.

John was a good father. 

Lise had always believed that.

He was also a good man.

She had always believed that too.

“It’s just after everything with Catherine, I’m sure the department thought I was paranoid then … ” he paused trying to find the words. “Kelly means everything to me and I don’t get to see her enough. I worry.”

“I know you do John.”

Cardinal let out a heavy breath, bringing his palms up to cup his face. He made a noise of frustration as he rubbed his hands over his face, his skin feeling dry and his beard feeling prickly. 

"You okay now?” Lise asked, leaning forward, one hand on the keys ready to turn them in the ignition. 

Cardinal nodded. 

* * *

When they got back to the office Dyson accosted them in the hallway. 

“I want you both at the autopsy in Toronto. I’ll do the family notification and take care of things on this end.” Dyson shook her head in disappointment. “This just went from a missing persons case, to a possible homicide.” 

“What about the interviews with her work? Our suspect?” Delorme questioned. 

“That will have to be pushed back until the autopsy. You need to know how she died, it’s going to affect your line of inquiry.”

“Alright.”

“The body is being sent there now. Torres is going to work on it this afternoon, he’s expecting you.”

* * *

Cardinal hated driving to Toronto. Technically, Delorme was the one driving, but he still hated being in the passenger seat for the journey. He wasn’t the type of person who could fall asleep in a car; he couldn’t keep his focus in a moving vehicle in order to read; so all he could do was think about the case. 

When they got to the hotel they decided to share a room, with two  _separate_ queen beds of course. They already lived together, so it just seems illogical not to waste more of the taxpayers money. 

Cardinal claimed the bed closest to the door, flopping down on the mattress. It felt like he had been awake for days. 

“I’m just going to hop in the shower,” Lise stated, heading into the bathroom.

She always felt dirty after being at a crime scene. It was all in her head of course, but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling. She would probably want another shower after the autopsy. 

She turned on the taps and stepped into the steaming water, it was incredibly soothing after the long drive. Her muscles were stiff and her calf ached. 

She dabbed her skin dry with the towel before bringing it up to her hair and rubbing it over the wet locks. When her hair was damp, as opposed to soaking wet, she tossed the towel over the shower door.

“Merde,” she mumbled to herself, realising she had left her clothes in the overnight bag instead of bringing them in with her. She could just put on her old clothes?  _ Non, _ Lise shook her head, feeling her skin crawl. Instead, she grabbed a dry towel and wrapped it around herself, wincing when it only came to her upper thigh.

She opened the door of the bathroom, feeling the cold chill of the room raise goosebumps over her skin. She walked around the corner, one hand on her breast, keeping the towel up.

She felt like an idiot as she just stood there, watching Cardinal staring at her. 

“I forgot my clothes,” she finally said as she gestured towards the bag Cardinal had brought in for them, sitting on the foot of his bed. 

John leaned forward, staring at the white towel. His hands fumbled with the zipper on the duffel bag, pulling out nearly every piece of clothing in it and laying them on the bed. He looked up, to make sure he was making eye contact with her. 

Delorme took a step forward, selecting which items she needed before she quickly retreated back into the bathroom. 

The tension in Cardinal’s face eased as she disappeared to safety. 

He’d been doing her laundry for months, but this was different. There was no way to suppress the fact that Lise had been naked beneath that towel, and only moments before she had been in the shower, naked  _ and wet.  _

John groaned, flopping back down onto the bed and tossing one of the pillows over his face. Seeing Lise like that unearthed feelings that he hadn’t felt in a long time, feelings that usually made him guilty. He would be a blind man if he didn’t admit that Lise was not only gorgeous, but incredibly powerful. Kelly had said so from the first moment she saw the woman. But John had Catherine. He loved Catherine, and taking care of her had always consumed much of his free thoughts.

He didn’t have Catherine anymore.

And his libido seemed to know it. 

“Come on,” he heard Lise say, fully dressed and standing in their bedroom some time later. “Torres is probably waiting for us.”

Maybe sharing a room had been a bad idea. 

* * *

Delorme was getting good at them now. She didn’t feel the urge to throw-up anymore. Then again, Zoe’s body was fairly fresh. The initial medical examiner said she had only been dead for 48 hours and Torres agreed with the findings. 

“Ready?” Torres asked, his bald head shining under the unforgiving fluorescent lights in autopsy. 

Cardinal nodded, not breaking contact from Zoe’s glassy brown eyes. 

“She has possible defensive wounds.” Torres said as he lifted up Zoe’s right arm and gestured towards the backside of her forearm. “They’re consistent with the marks of tree branches, it corroborates the evidence on the scene.”

Lise nodded, putting together the chain of events. “So she was running from something.”

“Or someone,” Cardinal added.

“She was also tied up.”

“What?” Lise asked, her accent thicker with the surprise in her voice. 

Torres gestured to Zoe’s wrist with his chubby latex covered finger. “Ligature marks on both wrists; there are indications of rope, but the lab will have to confirm with the particulates found on her skin.” Torres took two steps backwards, towards the foot of the silver autopsy table. “Oddly, her ankles were tied up as well and they also showed evidence of rope burn.”

“She struggled to get out,” Cardinal said, his voice soft.

“Somehow she did.” 

But John barely registered Delorme’s comment, his mind was too busy piecing together the images of Zoe being tied down; of Zoe’s face turning into Kelly’s face as the girl ran through the woods trying to make her way to safety. 

Lise cleared her throat, her elbow lightly brushing against John’s. “You okay?” she whispered, sensing the tightening in his posture. 

Cardinal sent her a nod, before he returned his focus back to Zoe, noticing the ugly bruising on her chest, and the small circular red marks on her neck. “Are those…?”

“Yes. They’re hickeys.”

A silence settled over the room, the question of whether or not Zoe got those hickeys in a consensual act weighing over the detectives.

“The impact on her chest is consistent with groping.” Torres highlighted the outline of a hand-print near Zoe’s right breast.

“Evidence of, sexual assault?” Lise asked, feeling her throat constrict with disgust. 

“Repeatedly.” Torres swallowed thickly. “There is scaring on the vaginal walls, and some skin tearing.”

“ _ Merde _ .” Lise felt sick. 

“Do we think that’s why she was held captive?” Cardinal suggested, turning to Lise. “It’s one thing to tie a captives writs, but if the purpose is to have sexual intercourse, would she be more docile with her legs tied as well?”

“We found evidence of semen. It might be too degraded to get a viable DNA sample. She was in the tree for nearly 48 hours ... it was pretty flaky.”

Lise cleared her throat, trying to change the line of inquiry. “Cause of death?”

Torres walked towards Zoe’s head, brushing aside a segment of her brown hair to reveal a big gash on the left side of her head. The wound had been cleaned, and part of Zoe’s head had been shaved so Torres could better examine the injury. “Blunt force trauma to the head,” he stated. “The impact was fatal and the damage is consistent with the rock found at the scene.” He lightly brushed her hair back into place, drawing attention to Zoe’s neck. “And her neck isn’t broken. The rope, the hanging, was just for show.”

“Someone wants us to think this was a suicide.” Lise stated, feeling invigorated by her desire to catch this bastard. 

“It was a mistake.” Cardinal whispered, his voice barely even a breath.

Delorme turned to him, her tone instinctively matching his own. “A mistake?”

“She got away. The rock, the possible DNA, the hanging,  _ he made a mistake _ . This murder was a mistake, or at the very least, it wasn’t how he originally planned on disposing of Zoe.”

Delorme nodded, seeing the wheels turning in Cardinal’s mind. She turned to Torres, “Anything else we should know?”

“Yes actually, she had some interesting blood tests considering her stomach contents.”

Delorme raised her eyebrow, waiting for Torres to continue. 

“Her stomach was empty, although she didn’t appear to be dehydrated. I found some residue in the stomach lining so I rushed the blood tests.” Torres pulled out a file folder. “She had sleeping pills in her system,  _ and _ she was being dosed with Flunitrazepam.”

Delorme looked at the folder, recalling the street name of the drug. “Rohypnol? Date rape drugs?”

“Yes. It’s been building up in her system, she was receiving multiple doses all while ensuring she didn’t OD. It suggests whoever did this to her has some kind of medical knowledge.” 

Delorme felt herself shiver as she overheard Torres continue.

“Some of the side effects are muscle relaxation; confusion; memory loss; dizziness; impaired coordination. Overall, she would have been more compliant.”

“So, we’re looking at a twisted kidnapping gone wrong?” Lise asked.

Torres didn’t even take a moment to consider before he responded. “The evidence supports that assessment, yes.”

* * *

They spent the night in Toronto. 

They checked out of the hotel at nine. 

They drove back in silence.

* * *

When they had stopped for lunch Delorme got a call from Dyson: Torres had sent his reports back to Algonquin Bay and the DC wanted to speak with them in her office as soon as they got back. It was the last thing Lise wanted to do, have a talk with her boss after an incredibly long drive. 

“What is this?” Dyson shouted before Cardinal even had the chance to close the office door behind him. She tossed a printed piece of paper onto her desk and sat down in her chair. 

Cardinal took a step towards the desk, but he knew he would need his glasses to read the paper. 

Instead Delorme picked up the document and stated out-loud for his benefit, “It’s the billing statement for the hotel.”

“At first I thought it was a mistake, that the hotel only charged us for one room, but when I called over, I found out that only one room was booked.” Dyson’s anger gave way to a very serious expression, her lips pressed into a tight line. “Is there something you two need to tell me?”

Delorme turned, straining her neck to look up at Cardinal - he had always been built like a beanpole. He returned her confused gaze, not one hundred percent sure what Dyson was referring to, although he did have a pretty good idea - and for some inconvenient reason the image of Lise in the towel came to his mind.

Cardinal cleared his throat. The truth was best here. “We split a room. We already live together; we’re used to cohabiting; we decided to save the taxpayers some money.”

“It was one room with  _ two  _ _separate_ queen beds,” Lise added, chancing a glance back at John. 

But Dyson wasn’t satisfied, the lines on her forehead creased as she leaned forward in her chair, placing her elbows on the table. She spoke directly to Lise, “Do you know what a rumor like this could do for your career?”

“It’s not -”

“Do you know what kind of shit this might create when this case goes to trial!” Dyson cut her off, pushing back from her desk with so much force that her chair rolled back an inch. “This better not affect the conviction when we catch the bastard who did this.” Dyson took a deep breath, sensing there was still something between her two best detectives. “So, I’ll ask one more time - and if you tell me now there will be no serious repercussions - is there something you want to tell me?”

“There’s nothing to tell.” Lise said firmly, “John’s already told you the truth.”

“Can we go now?” Cardinal stated, and it was clear that he was pissed off at Dyson for taking their attention away from the case.

“Get out of my office. I don’t want to see you for the rest of the day.”

* * *

McLeod had pulled the files Cardinal requested. He had been looking through them while he waited for the lead detectives to return from Toronto. He was instructed to pull out any cases that sounded similar to the Carter case; rapes and murders; possible kidnappings. 

Cardinal had a feeling - and although the crime scene was riddled with mistakes, he felt like their killer had done this before. Maybe he had started small and Zoe was his first attempt at escalation. 

“I’ve got one.” McLeod cockily reported to Cardinal as they walked into the conference room, tired from the drive and on edge from Dyson’s drilling.

“Let me see,” Cardinal said, putting on his glasses and sitting down next to McLeod. 

John always took the lead where McLeod was concerned. McLeod was still a little bitter about the whole NIS thing with Lise. And Lise wasn’t too fond of the misogynistic prick either.

McLeod handed John the file. “A rape reported a year ago. She had a mix of sleeping pills and Rohypnol in her system.”

John’s eyebrows raised, his face lighting up with a possible lead. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

“The rape was reported,” McLeod encouraged Cardinal to turn onto the next page in the case file, “she even had a rape kit done. They found some DNA, but they never went any further.”

“What do you mean they never went further?” Delorme asked, her hand resting on her hip as she stood over Cardinal attempting to read the file. 

“It wasn’t investigated.”

“Why the hell not!” Delorme yelled.

“She was Anishinaabe.”

That seemed to say it all.

The OPD had a terrible history of ignoring crimes against first nations.

McLeod went on, “Presumably the rape happened here - she was picked up at the Westway Bar - but she lives on the reserve.”

Cardinal let out a heavy-hearted sigh. He was certain these cases were connected.

“What’s her name?” Lise asked curiously.

“Nina Beaucage, aged twenty-three.”

Delorme looked down at the woman with sleek brown hair and dark eyes. “Well, we’re investigating it now.” She stated firmly, before gently touching John’s shoulder. “I’ll call Jerry.”

The touch didn’t go unnoticed by McLeod. 

* * *

Lise’s knuckles turned white as she knocked on the front door of 63 Middlefield. As she waited for someone to answer the door she whispered under her breath to John, “He’s got two kids under the age of eight. What’s he doing messaging with a twenty-one year old student?”

“We’re about to find out,” John said as he looked in the window and saw a boy, no more than six, sticking his tongue out at him.

“Can I help you?” A man with dusty blond hair, an uneven beard, and a small beer belly asked as he opened the front door.

“I’m detective John Cardinal,” he held up his badge, “with the Algonquin Bay Police, and this is my partner Lise Delorme. We need to speak with Daniel Green.”

“What’s this about?” 

“A girl named Zoe Carter was found murdered.”

“Murdered?” Daniel said, his thick eyebrows raising up. He chanced a glance behind him, looking down the hallway towards the kitchen where, presumably, his wife was making breakfast. Just as his eight year old daughter walked into the hallway Daniel Green stepped out onto the front stoop, closing the front door behind him. 

Delorme sent Carindal a look. “I take it you knew her,” she stated.

Daniel brought a hand up to his beard, and scratched his cheek. “What was her name again?”

Delorme resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she pulled out the photo. “Zoe Carter.”

Mr. Green took the photo from Delorme’s hand, sending her a sideways glance that made Lise think he was good at manipulating people. 

Daniel considered the photo for a moment. “Doesn’t look familiar.” 

“Really?” John said, in that confident and controlled way when he knew he had the upper hand over someone. “Because we have screenshots of a D_224 sharing explicit messages with littlechloe_21, Zoe’s messaging account.” 

Lise added before Daniel, whose mouth was open at the ready, could come up with an excuse, “We traced D_224 back to you Daniel.”

Daniel's mouth snapped shut. His jaw tightened. He looked down at the photograph once more before handing it back to Delorme. “Alright, I was messaging her,” he admitted. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. He chose his next words carefully. “And yes, before you ask, I knew who littlechloe really was; Zoe would send me pictures when I asked.” 

Lise felt her stomach turn. She didn’t know how much of this was Zoe’s idea, or if she was a young woman who let herself be manipulated by charming men who paid her compliments. Lise remembered being a naive young girl once.

“According to your messages you were planning on meeting up in person.” 

“I was never serious about that!” Daniel denied immediately. “It’s one thing to have a bit of fun online with a young girl, but I’d never betray my wife like that.”

Lise didn’t find his defense entirely convincing. “Speaking of Mrs. Green, how do you think she would feel if she found out about you and Zoe?”

“She knows,” Daniel said looking back towards his house. “My wife and I have an understanding. We can do whatever we want online, but that's all, it stays online. I was  _ never _ going to meet up with Zoe. It was just part of the game.”

“You liked to play games with Zoe?” Cardinal asked, hoping it made Daniel feel sick with himself.

But Daniel just uncrossed his arms and said, “I’m sure you read the messages detective.”

Cardinal wanted to punch this prick. “We’re going to need a catalog of your whereabouts from May 11th - May 16th.” 

“Seriously?”

“And we’re going to need to speak to your wife, so she can account for her whereabouts too,” Lise added.

“What, we don’t need to involve her!”

Delorme shared a look with Cardinal. They always had this ability to communicate with each other non-verbally, and right now alarm bells were sounding for both of them. 

“Yes we do need to involve her Mr. Green,” Lise explained, hoping to get a rise out of him. “You two are currently our prime suspects in this case.”

“Wait a minute, you think one of us killed Zoe?” Daniel panicked.

“Maybe you got tired of her pushing you into meeting in person; maybe she threatened to tell your wife; or maybe your wife got jealous.”

Daniel kept shaking his head, his hands twitching as his agitation increased.

“Listen Mr. Green,” Cardinal spoke, “if you don’t want to voluntarily provide your whereabouts for the time of May 11th - 16th, we could always take you down to the station.” Cardinal pulled aside his jacket to show the silver shine of a pair of handcuffs.

“Hey no!” Daniel raised his hands as if to surrender. “Listen I don’t want any trouble detectives.” He sighed, looking back to his house once more, and the little pink bicycle on the front lawn. “Come on, it’s Saturday, I got two young kids. Can my wife and I stop by tomorrow; leave the kids with the in-laws. We’ll get names, and contact information for you and everything! Please! Just don’t do this in front of my family, in front of the neighbourhood.”

Lise felt like spitting at Green’s feet. 

“I’ll tell the officers to be expecting you.” Cardinal nodded before narrowing his eyes in a threatening manner. “And you better not leave Algonquin Bay for as long as this inquiry is active. Do you understand?”

“Yes! I swear I’m not the guy you're looking for!” Daniel’s facial expression changed as if he just realized something. “Wait a minute, you know Zoe was also messaging someone else.”

They knew this, but they were still trying to identify him. 

“Do you know his identity?” Lise asked on a long-shot. 

“I don’t. Zoe just kept saying I was going to miss my chance; she said something about the guy she had a crush on fingering her or something. She was trying to make me jealous. But it’s like I told you, I’d never actually  _ do _ anything with her.”

* * *

They went home for lunch. It was a Saturday after all. They weren't technically on the clock, but everyone was used to pulling in over-time hours, especially when a big case came in. Besides, what else would they do at home together anyways? 

The case kept them distracted. 

Cardinal was coming up the basement stairs - Lise had asked him to get a frozen pizza while she preheated the oven - when he noticed Lise bent at the waist, leaning over the counter, and clutching her abdomen. 

“Cramps?” he asked gingerly as he tossed the pizza onto the counter-top. 

“Oui,” Lise said, her eyes closed as she breathed through a wave of tightness. 

“Bad ones this time, or just a wave?”

“It’s been building up for a while,” she responded absentmindedly. “I took my last pill yesterday and I forgot to get the refill.”

“You always do.” Cardinal muttered as he opened up the pizza box and began to take the wrapping off the frozen pizza. “I’ll go pick up a refill of your prescription.”

Lise looked up at him now. “John, you don’t need-”

“I’m used to taking care of women when they’re ... at their finest.”

Lise laughed, making her forget about the pain. “At their finest?” she questioned with a smile.

“Well your ability to work past the pain does make you the fairer sex.”

Lise laughed again before she stood up on her toes to plant a kiss of gratitude on the side of John’s bristly cheek. “Merci,” she whispered. 

John cleared his throat. “Just make sure the pizza’s ready by the time I get back.”

Only when he was alone in his car did John allow himself to reach up and touch where her lips had been.

She’d never done that before.

* * *

After pizza, and the much needed pain relief, Delorme and Cardinal drove over to Everly Florals. 

The floral shop was located on Main street. The street was narrow with cars parked on both sides. It was one of the oldest parts of town. 

Shop fronts were next to each other, old brick facades with large windows. 

Everly Florals had a little white awning and pink siding along the bottom half of the walls. It’s windows were large and filled with flowers. There were also a few potted plants on the sidewalk, sitting in front of the shop. It looked like one of the more well cared for businesses in the area. 

Lise had circled the block once, twice, until she could get a parking spot on the street. Mainstreet was always busy on a Saturday; the ice cream shop across the street, in particular, was seeing an influx of customers with the warming weather. 

Cardinal held the front door open for Lise, a small little bell hanging from the metal arm hinge at the top of the door chiming with every move of the glass door.

“Merci,” she whispered as she passed through, the smell of conflicting flowers overwhelming her senses. She felt the sudden urge to sneeze; John beat her to it. Lise smiled, watching the way he twitched his nose. She had always found his nose to be entirely too cute for a man; the thin line of it, the way it turned up like a pixie’s might. It didn’t help that his ears involuntarily wiggled with the gesture.

“What?” he asked, taking a deep breath to clear his sinuses. 

“Nothing,” she smiled with affection before turning to head towards the glass counter. Behind the counter was a wall with a list of arraignment styles and general pricing options. 

There was a young woman with a short bleached blond bob standing behind the counter and smiling. “Can I help you,” she looked between John and Lise, a look of bemusement crossing her face - it was unusual for a couple to enter the shop together, but maybe she was making assumptions.

“We’re with the Algonquin Bay Police,” John held out his badge. “Is there any way we could speak with Everly?”

The blond girl’s mouth fell open, she had definitely made an assumption. “She’s just in the back greenhouse, I’ll go fetch her.”

Moments later a woman in her mid forties emerged from the back room, the blond girl trailing behind her.

“This is about Zoe isn’t it?” Everly Walters, the store owner said, no surprise in her voice. She knew it was only a matter of time before the police came around asking questions.

“It is,” Lise said. “We’re hoping to ask you a few questions so that we might get a better understanding of what happened to Zoe.”

“Of course,” the stout business owner replied. “I was utterly wretched when I heard about it; Zoe was a sweet young woman and she had a love for the flowers, much like my niece Emer.” Everly tilted her head towards the blond haired girl who looked about Zoe’s age.

“When was the last time you saw Zoe?” Cardinal asked, watching as Lise took out her notebook. 

“It must have been three o’clock, last Saturday.”

Lise jotted down the time in her notebook. So far the timeline was matching with the Carter’s statements. 

“Zoe told me she was going to head straight home after her last delivery; a small bouquet of purple hyacinth and yellow tulips.” Everly smiled at the memory of the flowers. “She had it in the front basket of her bike like always. I remember that. She waved goodbye as she hopped onto her bike in that funny way, you know when someone swings one leg over after they already started moving a bit.” Everly’s brows furrowed. “I could never do that when I was young, but then again, Zoe was always on that bike.” 

Cardinal’s eyes narrowed. Focused. “And her last delivery, where was that?” he asked, trying to keep Mrs. Walters on topic. 

“Caroline Lewis, her boyfriend ordered them, no doubt as a way to apologize for something or other.” Everly snorted, feeling little sympathy towards the male species - maybe that’s why she was divorced. “Emer can you print out the address for the detectives?”

There was a flash of blond hair and the sound of machinery as the printer began it’s hard work.

“What about regular deliveries?” Lise promoted. “Was there anyone who asked for Zoe specifically?”

“Zoe had lots of regulars.” Everly seemed to consider this further before continuing. “Zoe would often help transfer potted plants and the like if she was asked; it was an extra service, no one expected it of her. I always heard how happy customers were to see her, she was such a sweet girl.” Everly looked downcast, the finality of Zoe’s disappearance affecting her in the moment.

“But did she have anyone who specifically asked for her?” Cardinal repeated.

“Beth Granger,” Emer said absentmindedly as she fiddled with the address she had printed.

Everly elaborated, giving her niece a glare as if she were an actress having her spotlight taken away. “Beth was working on a big garden project, with spring coming around the corner. Beth even has her own greenhouse. She always asked for Zoe to deliver her orders because she knew Zoe would willingly help her plant all her new orders.”

“That’s very useful Mrs. Walters,” Lise encouraged as she wrote out the name  _ Granger _ .

“Wait,” Everly spluttered, “you don’t think one of my customers had anything to do with this?”

Cardinal completely ignored her question. “Would there be any way we could get a copy of Zoe’s schedule, and her delivery routes over the past few months?”

“Of course,” Everly said less confidently, her willingness to help the police slightly dwindling as she worried for the first time how it might impact her business. 

Emer pulled something up on the computer, and the sound of the printer echoed through the shop front once more.

“Can you tell us what she was wearing when you last saw her?”

“Light denim capris, no rips, Zoe never wore pants with rips; a white t-shirt, at least I think, she had her university windbreaker on over-top. She always wore that thing.” 

Everyone turned to Emer, as if she had spoken out of turn.

She had a guilty look on her face. “What, I like fashion?”

As far as Cardinal was concerned it didn’t matter how Emer knew what Zoe was wearing - he doubted very much she was currently a suspect; all that mattered to Cardinal was that Zoe’s body was found in the same clothing - minus the windbreaker. That meant Zoe had been kidnapped somewhere between leaving the flower shop at three o’clock Saturday May 11th and her time of death. It also meant that they had a windbreaker to find.

“Did Zoe also work in the shop, make arrangements, or just do deliveries?” Lise asked for more information.

“She mostly did deliveries. I’m the only one, and my florists, who make the arrangements,” Everly said proudly. “Sometimes she helped Emer, but Emer works full time, Zoe was just part-time.”

“What was she like at work?” Cardinal asked, his eyes settling over at Emer. “Had she been acting different recently?”

“Not really. She’s always achingly polite.”

Lise raised a brow towards Emer, her bleach blond hair brushing against her cheeks as she shook her head with worry.

“I didn’t mean anything bad! Zoe was always  _ nice _ .” 

“How  _ nice  _ was she with the customers?” Lise questioned, even though she sensed it was a dead end and Emer was likely just a bit jealous. “Did she ever say or do anything that might have given one of them the wrong impression?”

“She didn’t flirt with the customers if that’s what you're implying detective,” Everly came to Zoe’s defense.

Lise wasn’t making any kind of assumptions - after all, she was a woman who had experience sexual harassment before - but it was her job to ask hard questions.

“How could she flirt with customers when she was too busy texting some guy.”

They looked towards Emer again.

She blushed.

“Every time she got a text message from one of them her face would go red and she’d start biting her lip. I could tell when she got a message from one of her parents or a friend because her face would stay blank. But this guy, or whoever, clearly got her excited. And she never wanted to gossip about it, which is insufferable because I couldn't even live vicariously through her. Then again, I guess she’s … not alive … anymore …”

“Emer!” Mrs. Walters scolded.

Emer tightened her lips, looking a bit embarrassed as she handed over Zoe’s delivery schedules and the addresses from the last three months. 

“Thank you,” Lise said, taking them from the younger woman.

“If you can think of anything else, just give us a call at the station.” Cardinal handed over the business card to the florist before he and Delorme exited with their new leads.


	3. Nina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelly comes to visit; Lise needs a new place to sleep; a pattern in their case emerges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the lovely comments! I think you're really going to like this one!

Sunday’s were a good day for canvassing. Most people stayed home on Sunday. 

Technically they had the day off. But Dyson had approved the overtime. 

For John at least, helping Patrol canvas Zoe’s delivery route was preferable to sitting around and waiting for Kelly’s bus to get in tonight. 

“This next one is Beth Granger,” Delorme said as they walked up the driveway to a small brick bungalow. Lise could see the glass roof of a greenhouse peeking out of the backyard. 

When they knocked on the door a slim woman with white-blond hair answered. She had gardening gloves on, ones with little red ladybugs. 

“May I help you?”

“Are you Beth Granger?” 

“Yes,” the woman in her early-mid sixties smiled. She had a very gentle presence. 

“I’m detective Lise Delorme, and this is my partner.” Lise put away the badge she flashed. “We understand that you received frequent deliveries from Everly Florals?”

“Of course, what is this about?” she asked, genuine confusion written on the matronly woman’s face. 

Lise shared a look with John.

“Zoe Carter was found murdered four days ago.”

Mrs. Granger brought a gloved hand up to her mouth, smearing some dirt on the side of her cheek.

Her grief looked honest; she was shaking; her eyes were watering.

“You didn’t know?” Lise asked in a firm but gentle voice. 

“No, I didn’t.” Beth dropped her hand, instead she placed it on the door-frame to steady herself. “Oh that poor sweet girl!” Beth’s face shifted from shock to concern, to what Cardinal thought, peculiarly, was a hint of anger. “What happened?” 

“That’s what we're trying to find out.” Cardinal said as he studied Beth’s face. “How frequently did you see Zoe?” he asked.

“Every Saturday,” her eyebrows creased, expressing her sorrow. “I always asked for Zoe,” a half smile began to creep over her lips. “If I had a big order she’d bring them in her bike-wagon; bless her soul. Everly always said she could use a delivery van but Zoe loved that bike. She would bring the plants into the backyard for me, and help me plant them.” A full smile was on her lips now, her grayish skin flushing with the fond memories. “I love to garden, but with the arthritis,” Beth pulled off her glove, showing off her stiff, crippling fingers, “it’s gotten hard.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Zoe helps me take care of the greenhouse.” Her face hardened as she realized the incorrect tense of her statement. Zoe would  _ never  _ be able to help her in the greenhouse again. 

Suddenly, there was an eerie creak in the hallway behind Beth; startled Beth turned her head briefly, but her peripheral vision picked nothing up. She returned her attention to the detectives. 

But Cardinal had heard it too.

He tried to see around Beth’s shoulder, but she was fairly tall for a woman and he couldn’t do it without making a fool of himself. 

“And Zoe came by last Saturday?” Lise asked, wanting to piece together Zoe’s last movements.

“Yes, at one o’clock.” Beth said, quite certain about the time. “She helped me plant some orange chrysanthemums in the greenhouse, then I gave her a cup of tea. She was supposed to go back to the shop, she still had some deliveries lined up, she had to go pick up the arrangements.”

“Was it usual for you to have tea with her?”

Beth smiled. “Oh yes, Zoe never said no to a cup of tea.”

Lise, turned to John, but she could see he was focusing on a specific shadow in the hallway.

“May I ask,” Beth said softly, “did Zoe make it back to the shop?”

But before Lise could answer a grey cat slithered down the hallway, emerging from the same spot John had been staring at for the last few minutes. The cat walked forward, slinking in between Beth’s legs. 

Ignoring Beth’s question Lise handed her a business card, “If you can think of anything else, please call the station.” 

* * *

Cardinal swiveled around in his chair, looking up at the drop ceiling in the office, spotting all the stains. 

“She seemed to know Zoe fairly well. She looked like she might cry when she found out.” Lise said, thinking out loud to herself because her partner was clearly distracted by ceiling tiles. “Is Fox back yet?” she asked and received no answer. Something was going on in that secret mind of his. “What is it John?” No answer. “John,  _ qu’est-ce c’est _ ?” she said more firmly, and the French startled John out of his reprieve. 

“What?”

Lise looked around the office.  _ Empty _ . 

She continued, in the soft tone of a woman who had previously kissed a man on his cheek. “What’s bothering you John?”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have asked Kelly to come.”

“Why would you say that?” her French-Canadian accent thick. 

John sent her a meaningful look, but could explain no further as constable Fox and detective McLeod walked in. 

“Well that was a waste,” McLeod said in that defeatist attitude that defined his entire being. He thumped down in his desk chair while Constable Fox approached Cardinal’s desk.

John turned to look up at the young officer. “What did Caroline Lewis say?” 

Fox pulled out his notebook, his pen tapping off each item as he read it to Cardinal and Delorme. “She said that Zoe delivered the bouquet just after three; she said that tulips were her favourite and she couldn’t stay mad at her boyfriend; and she said she watched Zoe bike down the street, towards the flower shop; at least that’s what she assumed because Zoe told her it was her last delivery of the day.”

“Assumed?” Lise questioned and Fox nodded.

“So we don’t know for certain she made it back to the shop?” Cardinal clarified, and it was more of a statement than a question. 

Fox nodded again before tentatively adding. “There was something else…”

“What was it Fox?” John encouraged, hoping to grow the constables detective skills.

“Her boyfriend was there, but he didn’t want to come to the door, he was just skulking around in the kitchen, listening in.”

Peculiar.

_ Guilty? _

“Find out more about the boyfriend, okay Fox?” Cardinal instructed, pleased when the young man diligently nodded his head and went towards one of the computers. John turned towards Lise. “So, we can officially confirm Zoe went missing from Algonquin Bay, somewhere near the centre of town, just after three in the afternoon on May 11th.”

“How did no one notice John?” 

Cardinal wished he had something more comforting to say to his partner. Instead, he sighed and said, “I don’t know.”

* * *

“I’ll just wait in the car.” Lise stated as she spotted Kelly hopping off the bus.

John nodded, opening his car door to go and collect his daughter. 

Lise watched as they exchanged a hug, Kelly tucking nicely underneath John’s chin. They exchanged some words, then Kelly looked towards the car - looked right towards Lise. The pair began walking over, John placed a backpack in the trunk and then the sounds of the bus terminal flooded into the car as two doors were opened.

The car shook with their entry. 

“How about we go out for dinner?” John suggested, his car door slamming closed as it silenced out the world. “We don’t have much at the house right now Kelly, we usually do the shopping on weekends, but we worked through the weekend on this case.”

Lise could see Kelly trying not to make eye contact with her in the drivers rear-view mirror. 

“Sure,” she said, her voice containing that positive lilt. “I could eat.”

“Would you like to freshen up at the house first?” Lise suggested, knowing she herself would have loved a shower. “You had a long drive.”

“It wasn’t that long really,” she shrugged her shoulders. “I’m fine.”

“Right, Italian then?” John suggested, turning around to look at his daughter who gave him a thin smile before he turned back to Lise. “We all like Italian.”

* * *

Dinner had been awkward. 

Lise felt like she was in an interrogation room.

She could tell Kelly was studying her, but not in a rude way! Kelly didn’t have a rude bone in her body. It was the exact opposite in fact. She kept sending Lise a reassuring smile.

“So you two are clearly still living together.” Kelly finally blurted out. They had finished with their salads and were awaiting the main course - it was the perfect moment to strike.

“Kelly,” John warned halfheartedly.

“What, we aren’t allowed to talk about it?” There was a slight amount of attitude in her voice, she was testing their limits. 

Cardinal’s voice was hoarse. “No, Kel, if you need to,” he turned to Lise, as if to make sure he had her permission first; Lise nodded. “If you need to, we can talk about it.”

“So, you’re like best friends or something?”

Lise wanted to laugh. She had never thought of John as her best friend - he was her partner - but if she really did consider it, in a way, Kelly was right. 

“We are good friends.” Lise answered for John, who had wrinkled his nose at the term best friends. “We’re partners, there is a lot of trust between us.”

Kelly leaned forward, forgetting her manners and placing her elbows on the table. “But why does that mean you need to live together?”

Lise looked down at her interlaced fingers.  _ Why had they made the decision? _

“At first, it was because it was easy. We had started spending more time together: watching police tapes. Then we progressed to a few movies…” Lise looked across the booth to John. They had never really discussed this thing between them either. Suddenly she felt very exposed. She sighed. “Working long hours in a high pressure career can isolate you. In the past, I’ve isolated myself from those in my life. My last boyfriend didn’t understand my job or my goals; my parents are always pressuring me to communicate - your father,” she took a breath, “your father understands my work and he doesn't pressure me for social interaction. But at the same time … I’m lonely. We need people in our lives.”

Kelly turned to her father. “If she can admit she’s lonely, why couldn’t you?”

John rolled his eyes and Kelly laughed. Even Lise felt like it was safe to let the joy seep into her smile. 

“I think it’s nice,” Kelly finally concluded, and she could feel the weight ease off her father’s shoulders. “At first I thought it was a little weird. I thought he was trying to avoid telling me that he’s got a girlfriend!” Kelly said playfully as she nudged her father, whose eyes had gone wide.

Lise smiled lightly, but when she looked up to meet John’s eyes she felt her stomach drop.

_ Fuck. _

Thankfully, Kelly didn’t seem to notice the look being exchanged between her father and his partner.

And before the tension could get any worse they were saved by the arrival of their pastas. 

* * *

“I feel really bad about this; it really is your room now Lise,” Kelly said as she watched her father put a sheet on the couch. 

They only had the two beds - even back when Catherine was alive. 

The house had another bedroom they used for storage and there was plenty of space in the basement, but they had only ever needed the two beds. They didn’t have visitors, no in-laws to invite over, and with just Kelly, well, they never saw the need for a guest room.

But John sure did now.

“It was your room first,” Lise said, “besides I can easily take the couch.”

“No,” John said firmly, tossing a pillow onto one side. “I’ll take the couch.”

Both Kelly and Lise turned to him, skeptical expressions on their faces.

“I’m not sleeping in your bed John.” Lise tried not to think about that statement any further. “I’ll be fine on the couch.”

John tilted his neck to make eye contact with Lise. “I’ve spent many nights on this couch before.” More generally he said, “really it’s fine.”

Kelly gave her father a sideways-glance.  _ Why had he slept on the couch before? _

“John, you’re 6’3, you wont even fit on that couch!” 

“I’ve done it before!” he defended. “Besides, I probably won't sleep much anyways.” He didn’t mention that it had something to do with the case - Lise knew. “You, on the other hand, are famous for needing your sleep.”

Lise rolled her eyes playfully.

Kelly looked between them, missing the joke.

Lise turned to the young woman to explain; “I get, cranky, when I haven't had enough sleep.”

“And I don’t want that!” John said seriously. 

“He doesn’t like it when I complain at work,” Lise expanded for Kelly’s benefit. A beat later she responded to John, “Fine, you take the couch.”

John smiled smugly as Lise said her good-nights and left down the hallway.

Kelly stayed in the living room, her brow raised, giving John a knowing look.

“What?” he questioned.

Kelly smirked. “Nothing.” She shook her head. “Night dad.”

* * *

It was late. 

Too late. He had to be up at 6:30 for work tomorrow.

But he couldn’t sleep. 

They had come close. Too close in such a short period of time. 

If only he hadn’t made such a stupid fucking amateur  _ mistake _ .

He needed to gain control again.

He needed to learn who his opponents were. 

So, he opened his laptop, waited for the operating system to load and typed their names into the search engine. 

He would never admit it, but he felt the stress rising. He would get them back for this. For coming too close. A sly smile appeared on his face when the first results showed. This was almost too easy. 

Two pairs of brown eyes stared back at him.  _ She was beautiful _ . 

He closed his eyes and imagined her underneath him, powerless, squirming, his fist gripping her brown wavy hair and pulling. _Fuck_. 

It honestly couldn’t have worked out better. This way he was at least getting some pleasure out of it too. His fingers went to his screen and touched the girl's smiling face, standing next to her father. 

“Kelly.” He whispered. 

* * *

“Fuck,” he swore as he bent his neck in order to step into the car. Lise had been right. His neck and his back were killing him. It had been a good long time since he last slept on the couch, maybe he’d gotten soft.

“I told you,” Lise boasted, turning on the engine. She noticed John wave goodbye to Kelly, dressed in her pajamas and waiting at the window, as she pulled down the driveway.

“Yeah, well we didn't have much choice.” John said as he tried to get the kink out of his neck, titling his head from side to side. It wasn’t working. Cardinal sighed. He sounded defeated. “Maybe I should buy a guest bed, or at least a day bed?”

There was a beat of silence until Lise meekly suggested, “We could share?”

Cardinal’s immediate reaction was to say  _ ‘what?’ _ but the words quickly fell silent on his tongue. Instead, he considered it. “What about Kelly?” he paused. “She wont understand.”

“We can wait until she’s in bed?” Lise suggested. “She wouldn’t have to know. And you’re always up before her anyways.”

The lines in Cardinal’s forehead creased as he seriously thought about the proposition. 

“She’s here for a week John.”

He sighed. She was right - as usual. “It won’t be weird?” he asked, not wanting to ruin their partnership - their friendship.

“It probably will.” Delorme said honestly. 

Cardinal brought a hand to the back of his neck, the ache making the decision for him. “Okay, all right,” he said softly. He turned to Lise. “And you’re sure? You’re okay with sharing?” he asked, wanting to make sure she was comfortable with this level of intimacy. 

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it.”

“Of course not,” John huffed at Lise’s cavalier attitude. 

“Okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed. 

* * *

They had an appointment with one of the mall Pharmacists at 10:00 am. 

Torres and his team had been able to pinpoint the most likely brand of sleeping pill found in Zoe’s stomach; and if they could prove that the pills were a specific brand there was a chance they could get a warrant for client records - it was a slim chance, but it was the closest lead they had right now. 

“Do you need a prescription for these brands of sleeping pills?” Delorme handed over a copy of the toxicology report, as well as the lab techs estimates of the most likely brands in Zoe’s system.”

Dr. Grey pulled out a pair of thin glasses, much like Cardinals. He picked up the report, and turned to the second page, his eyebrows raising.

“You found all of this in one person’s system?”

Delorme had to stop herself from replying in French, “Well, yes.”

Dr. Grey re-read the page. “Well Doxylamine is common in over the counter medications like Unisom - you don’t need a prescription for that. But Zolpidem,” he said with interest, “is a sedative-hypnotic intended to be used for short term relief, it’s usually found in Sublinox tablets. Sublinox tablets are also commonly mixed with  Ambien, Edluar, Intermezzo, Zolpimist,”  Dr. Grey pointed a finger over a long list of matching names. “You would need a prescription for Sublinox, but it’s not likely that a doctor would prescribe it for chronic insomnia.”

Delorme bit the inside of her cheek. “So it isn’t likely we would find someone with a repeated history of Subli-”

“Sublinox,” the pharmacist finished the word for her. “No, it’s unlikely.”

“Is it possible he prescription shopped?” John interjected, his voice dry and low in the early morning. “Could he have gone to different walk in clinics, got the same pill, or maybe even a similar one?”

The pharmacist considered this, his head nodding in anticipation of his answer. “It’s possible. Ambien is quite similar, but it’s harder to get in Canada.”

“So there is no way you could say for certain what brand of drug was in her system?” Delorme asked once more.

“Sleeping pills, are all made from the same base drugs. Each brand differs in the slightest. It’s like tylenol or advil,” he put it into an easier to understand context. “There is no way to say for certain.” Dr. Grey paused, seeing the dejected look on Delorme’s face. “But,” he said in a more uplifted tone, “based on the toxicology report, it is my professional opinion that your perpetrator has access to both prescription and non prescription sleep aids.”

Delorme gave an insincere smile. “We’ll never get a warrant for this,” she whispered to Cardinal.

John winced. After a beat he added, “What about the Rohypnol?” 

“Rohypnol is a street drug. I’m sure some of your colleagues in vice would have a better understanding of how he might have accessed it.”

John nodded before offering the pharmacist his hand for a firm shake. 

* * *

“Anything on Caroline Lewis’ boyfriend yet Fox?” Cardinal asked as the constable walked into the lunch room. 

“Yeah,” Fox fiddled for his little notebook in the pocket of his jacket. 

“His name is Andrew Wellington; he lives with his mother; and he has a prior for possession.”

John’s eyes widened in the way that meant he was thrilled by a possible development in the case. “Possession? I wonder if he has access to sleeping pills?”

“He might be worth a second look,” Fox shrugged his shoulders casually. “He seemed really flighty when I went to speak with Miss Lewis.”

“Why don’t you and Fox go?” Lise suggested, balling up the tinfoil that had held her chicken caesar wrap. “It would give him a chance to develop his interview skills.” 

“What about you?” Cardinal asked - aware of how far their relationship had come; at first he thought of Lise as a dirty shadow, but now, he couldn’t do it - any of it - without her.

“I was going to get groceries on my break. I thought I could swing by the house and do it with Kelly?” Lise said unconfidently, not even sure why the thought had occurred to her.

“Really?” John questioned.

Lise replied with a hum of confirmation.

“Alright, that sounds good with me.” He turned to the constable. “Eat your lunch Fox and then you and I will go speak with Andrew.”

Fox nodded, an eager, and slightly nervous, smile crossing over his face at the prospect of acting as Cardinal's “partner”. 

* * *

“My housemates and I usually do this, so I’m actually pretty used to it.” Kelly said as she helped Lise bag the groceries she had just purchased. 

“I bet you girls eat healthier then John and I.”

Kelly smiled lightly, although it was hard not to wince hearing another woman refer to her father by his first name - that would take some getting used to. 

“We do try to buy a lot of vegetables,” Kelly realized. “But we also buy more snack food than you and dad do.”

“Really?” Lise was surprised. Young girls were usually obsessed with eating healthy due to the unrealistic expectations society placed on them about body image. Whereas, she and John didn’t have very much snack food because they weren't the type of people who “snacked”. 

“It’s true.” Kelly nodded as she placed a red pepper in a reusable bag with other vegetables. “We have a stock pile of chocolate and ice cream for emergency purposes - break-ups, periods, mood swings, that sort of thing.”

Lise laughed as she put a bag of canned goods into their cart. “That’s smart! John just usually goes out and grabs me things if I’m desperate.” 

There was a pause. 

A beat in which Lise had realized what she just said. She froze in front of the cart and she could see Kelly’s hands still. 

“I’m sorry,” she winced, “that was weird.”

“No, really-” Kelly tried to brush it off, but Lise was adamant.

“No. It is weird.”

Another beat, until, suddenly the tension broke and both women began to laugh as they placed the last of their bags into the cart. 

“Dad used to do things like that for me and mom all the time.” Kelly smiled fondly as Lise rolled the cart out of the grocery store and into the parking lot.

“He is very sweet.” Delorme admitted, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Kelly bit down on her bottom lip - she tried not to let the way Lise was smiling tear her insides apart. Kelly wasn’t stupid - in fact she was a bright girl. She could tell there was something there, even if Lise or her father didn’t know it yet. It gave Kelly this feeling of anxiety - like she was just waiting for it to happen. 

Kelly wasn’t sure if she was ready to accept it.

When they got to the car Delorme opened up the trunk. Kelly turned around to the cart, reaching for a bag, but that’s when she noticed him again. He had been following them. At first, Kelly didn’t want to say anything, but he was standing there in a black jacket, maybe a blazer, and he was staring right at her. Kelly picked up the bag of meats, her brows furrowed as she turned to place it in the trunk. When she turned back around to the cart again, he was gone.

“What is it?” Lise asked, noticing the way Kelly was staring across the parking lot.

“I just...” Kelly wasn’t sure if she should say anything. Then again, she remembered she was speaking to a cop. “There was this guy in the grocery store … I thought I saw him looking at us, at the ends of the aisles, and then I thought I just saw him by the cart return, but he’s gone.”

Lise turned to look towards the cart return. There was no man standing there. “Get in the car okay.” Lise said before she put the last two bags into the trunk. “I’m going to lock the door and check it out.”

“Okay,” Kelly nodded, getting inside of the car and watching through the back window as Lise brought the cart towards the cart return.

Lise pushed the cart into the previous one, connecting them with the little chain and collecting her loonie back. She pocketed the coin as she walked around the other side of the cart return, browsing the parking lot for a loitering man.

But the parking lot was empty.

* * *

Lise didn’t know whether she should tell John or not. It didn’t seem like anything too serious.

When she and Kelly had returned home they put away the groceries. Lise locked the doors before she left and told Kelly to call if she saw anyone on the property.

Delorme even made it back to the office in time to pick up Cardinal for their appointment with Nina Beaucage.

“So how was Kelly?” John asked as he pulled on his seat-belt - Delorme had already started the car and was pulling onto the rode. 

“She’s good.”

“Good.”

Lise was thankful for the one word answer, it signified an end to the conversation. Instead she turned things back to the case. “What did you think of the boyfriend? Andrew?” 

“He’s clean - been off the drugs for over five years. I think he was just nervous having the cops around, he didn’t want to spoil things with Caroline.”

“So he’s a no then?”

Cardinal hated to admit it. “Yes.” 

* * *

Nina lived on the Nipising Reservation. 

She had reported her rape nearly two years ago.

The hospital did a rape kit.

The police did nothing.

It was something the Anishinaabe were used to.

Detective Jerry Commanda did his best. But he was still with the OPD. He might have been one of them, but he wasn’t  _ one _ of them. 

“Hey Jerry,” Cardinal shook the man's hand as they met outside of the small house. 

It wasn’t a house exactly. It was a mobile home - the kind setup to look like a house, with siding, and skirting, and potted plants. 

“Have you already been inside?” Lise asked as Jerry gave her a little side hug, his hand resting at the small of her back. 

Jerry nodded. “She’s relieved someone is finally taking her seriously.”

“Merde,” Lise cursed, feeling guilt that wasn’t even her responsibility to bear. 

When they stepped into the house, Jerry led them to the living room where they found Nina.

She was beautiful. 

She had large brown eyes, a smooth complexion, and the sleekest dark brown hair. She had a thin build, but she looked like a fighter - Lise could tell. 

“I work at Spirit of the Bay, the restaurant on the border of the reserve,” Nina stated after the introductions and preliminary questions had been asked and answered. “It’s right next to the tourist shop, the Inn, and the Indigenous Friendship Centre - I volunteer there.”

Lise took a quick note so they could follow up on the leads later. “And the restaurant, that’s where you met him?”

Nina nodded before fixing Cardinal with a hard glare. “The incident occurred off reserve and the police still did nothing.”

Lise got the sense that she still didn’t quite trust men.

“I’m sorry Nina.” Lise said truthfully. She leaned forward in her seat, waiting to make eye contact with the young woman. “I know it’s too late and I know my apology is worthless, but my partner and I are here now,” she glanced up to Cardinal who had chosen to remain standing by a cabinet, “and we think the guy that did this to you, has done it again.”

Nina’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. She wasn’t at all surprised the cops were only taking an interest in her case because someone else had come forward. Still, the detective's apology seemed genuine and Nina had learned that she had to stop hating and blaming other people for the negative things in her life. 

“What makes you think that?” she said. 

“The sleeping pills in your system, we found almost an exact toxicology report in our victim.”

“Victim?” Nina looked towards Jerry, he hadn’t told her this was about a murder.

“Zoe Carter.” Lise handed Nina the photograph.

She had seen it before, on the television. “The girl from the tree? She was raped?”

Lise looked towards her feet. “Repeatedly.”

“Repeatedly?” Nina felt the anxiety course through her. “But this guy, it was only one time. I wasn’t held captive or something!”

“It was two years ago, we think he might have escalated.”

Nina was speechless, her eyes searing as she looked between the female detective, her silent partner, and Jerry. 

_ This had to be a joke right? They thought the guy who did this to her was murdering girls now too? _

“You seriously think it’s the same guy?”

Lise nodded. “Anything you could tell us would be helpful. What he looked like, sounded like, smelled like, anything?”

Nina closed her eyes. She knew every little detail. She had spent two years remembering it. Over and over. 

“He picked me up at the restaurant.” She opened her eyes and concentrated fiercely on Delorme. “He flirted with me while I served him - he had the rabbit pie. He waited for my shift to finish, then we had a drink at the bar - maybe I wasn’t paying attention, I don’t know, but he must have given me something because my muscles started to feel so loose and I was dizzy.” Nina hated herself for that part. It was rule number one for a girl, never leave your drink unattended. “I think I fell asleep in the car, when I woke up I was in a bedroom.” Nina’s hands began to join in the conversation as she recounted the experience. “The bedding was blue, the curtains were black, or maybe blue, it was dark, they were only open a sliver and I remember seeing a street light, I just focused on that. I couldn’t move very much, my legs felt so heavy, so did my head. I woke up the next morning in the Ravensbrook Inn - but it wasn’t the same room where it happened. I think he just brought me there. I went straight to the hospital and, well you probably have all that stuff on file.”

“This is excellent Nina,” Lise said with a reassuring smile, her handwriting messy on the notepad before her - she hadn’t wanted to break her eye contact with Nina. “What about his appearance?”

Nina felt her stomach turn. She had been attracted to him. “He was white, fit, he had brown hair, a trimmed beard, almost stubble.” Nina’s voice became softer. She looked uncomfortable. “He looked like a young professional. I thought I had gotten lucky,” her voice cracked at the admission, “I thought I had found a stable white boy. I thought he wanted more then sex, he was charming and sweet - I never even imagined...” But Nina couldn’t go any further.

Lise could tell Nina wouldn’t be able to take anymore soon. “What name did he give you?”

“He said his name was William.”

“If we sent over a sketch artist, do you think you could provide us with a possible suspect?”

Nina nodded, uncertain at first, but growing more confident as she thought over his features in her mind. “I could do that.” 

“You did great Nina,” Jerry encouraged her, lightly touching her shoulder.

“Wait, there’s one more thing.” Nina added. “The next day, I noticed my necklace was missing. It was a little gold dream-catcher.”

“Interesting.” Lise nodded, knowing predators liked souvenirs. 

Nina looked up towards Cardinal. He had been staring out the window the entire time she was talking. He had a look of sadness on his face. He must be a father, she assumed. 

“You’ll let me know if you get him right?” she said to Cardinal, who for the first time since shaking her hand looked directly into her eyes. “You’ll let me know if he’s the same guy?”

“Of course,” John responded.

“And if he isn’t the same guy?” she turned to Delorme.

“We’ll do our best to get justice for you Nina.”

They left the reserve feeling inappropriately positive. Soon they would have a sketch; they could also look into who was at the inn two years ago, as well as credit cards used at the restaurant. They finally had somewhere to go - that was, of course, if it was the same guy. 

But John had a feeling. 

And he wasn’t usually wrong. 

* * *

That night they ate dinner, like they always did.

They watched tv, like they always did.

Kelly kissed her father on the cheek as she said goodnight, like she always did.

But this time, after the house was quiet, and Kelly was in her bedroom, Lise and John walked down the hallway, to John’s bedroom, together.

They brushed their teeth together, side by side, each at their own vanity. 

Then, when they returned to the room, Lise picked out a tank top and some booty shorts. She went back into the bathroom to change and when she returned John was already underneath the covers - on the right side of the bed. 

Lise padded over to the bed, tossing her clothes in the laundry hamper on the way. She tossed open the duvet and creeped into the bed - unsure of each movement.

When she finally settled in she realized that she wasn’t at all tense. She expected to be nervous, to be sharing this kind of space with him - but she just felt - comfortable. 

“I think someone was following us today,” she admitted, looking up into the ceiling. 

“What?” John turned to regard her profile. 

She tilted her head to meet his gaze. “At the grocery store.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he was concerned. Not angry. 

“I didn’t want to worry Kelly.” Lise admitted, feeling her gut twist with the truth of her instinct. “I think … I think he might have been following her.”

“Kelly?” John was surprised.

“She was the one who noticed him.” Somewhere in the back of Lise’s mind was a self deprecating comment about what a lousy detective she was. 

“It’s probably nothing.” Cardinal reassured her as he rolled back onto his back. “Maybe an old school mate?”

“You're probably right.” 

There was a beat. Lise turned out the lamp beside her and the room was engulfed into darkness.

“Are you okay?” came a gruff whisper.

“Me?” Lise questioned, confused by his concern. “Oui, je tre bien,” she lied. 

“Good. That’s good.”

And then he rolled over into the darkness. 

* * *

Lise awoke with a start. Her heart was pounding, her body trembling with sweat. It had happened again. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” She heard faintly, coming from somewhere beside her. 

It was just another nightmare.

The wound wasn’t real.

The pain was beginning to sting less.

The visions weren’t reality.

They weren't about to die.

“It’s okay, I’m here, we’re fine.”

And then she felt his hand. Clutching her own, just like he had when she had been shot by Sharlene Winston. 

He held her tightly. 

They were going to get through it together. 

They were scared _ together _ .

“Lise,” he whispered into her ear and tightened his grip on her hand.

Her eyes shot open.

“It’s just a nightmare.”

“Right!” Lise blinked into the darkness, seeing the outline of Cardinal’s face looming over her. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” He let her take a moment to catch her breath. “I understand.” 

They lay there, not moving, calming down, their hands clasped together on top of the bedspread. 

It was the best feeling Lise had ever had, laying next to him, their hearts beginning to work in tandem.

She turned to him, a weak smile forming in the dark.

Not afraid anymore, John raised their clasped hands, bringing her knuckles up to his lips.

His lips were dry.

The kiss was a mere brush against her skin.

Their eyes stayed locked until he lowered their hands back to the bedspread.

Lise smiled, her heart fluttering out of control again.

She turned onto her side, their clasped hands pressed between their bodies as she raised her left hand up to his chest.

John let out a deep breath before placing a second kiss to Lise’s temple.

And the nightmares went away. 


	4. Kelly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything shifts.

He was staring at her. 

All the emotions and anxieties he had been holding back, everything he had told himself wasn’t real had all surged forward last night. 

He couldn’t lie to himself anymore.

He was in love with Lise Delorme. 

Her eyelids started to flutter, her lashes dark against her cheek.

When she opened her eyes she was startled to find John looking at her. 

For a moment they didn’t say anything, they just looked into one another's eyes. 

In the back of her mind Lise wondered what time it was; she wondered how long he had been looking at her; she wondered what his lips might feel like; what he might taste like. She tried to turn her brain off. 

“Good morning,” he rasped. He could see the wheels turning in her mind. Before she could open her mouth to ask John supplied, “It’s a little after seven.”

Lise nodded, burrowing her face a little more into the pillow.

It was warm in the bed.

“Last night?” Lise began but she didn’t know where to go from there. “The nightmare?”

John nodded. “You had it again.”

“My hand,” Lise unconsciously lifted her left hand, tentatively placing it on John’s jaw before she could think twice. Her fingers lightly traced over his lips, the lips that had gently brushed against her knuckle. “Was that a dream?” she whispered.

John brought his hand up to place over her own. “No.”

“John I-” her voice was shaking as she lost her nerve to continue. 

“Please say it Lise. I don’t know if I’ll have the courage to say it myself.”

Lise felt her heart burst through her chest.  _ Did he feel it too? _

“I think that I want to be with you.” She admitted, afraid of her own feelings. 

“I want it too Lise.”

“Oui?” she said in disbelief, for some reason her hormones had her resting on the edge of tears. 

“I don’t know when it happened,” he moved his hand to cup her cheek, “maybe it’s been happening from the very start, but I’m ready for it now.”

Lise nodded, feeling more than ready herself.

“Can I kiss you?” John asked, searching her eyes.

Lise nodded frantically, holding her breath as he slowly inched forward. 

It felt like a century, the slow journey towards her mouth, their eyes locked until he became consumed by her lips and her eyes fluttered close.

It was a soft brush of skin. Something very uncertain. 

He looked up to make sure it was okay, if he could continue and that’s when Lise’s hands came to rest on his chest.

John felt a wave of confidence and trust wash over him as he leaned in again, this time attempting to part her mouth.

It was bliss when he found the heat of her. 

He began to tug at her waist, his fingers digging into her flesh as he brushed against her tongue. She was more than eager. 

His hand ran down to her ass, feeling the curve of her and the seam where the tight booty shorts ended and her skin began.

He was getting hard.

And this was moving too fast.

John pulled back from the kiss, breathing heavily. 

Lise smiled before she pressed her forehead against his, their noses lightly bumping against each other.

* * *

When Lise got out of the shower and dressed for work she found John already in the kitchen making breakfast.

“Kelly not up yet?” she asked, feeling an air of awkwardness surrounding them.

“She probably won't be up till nine.”

Lise smiled thinking maybe it would be okay to kiss him again. But as she approached she got nervous and second guessed the decision. “Are we okay John?” she asked.

John put down the spatula, ignoring the scrambled eggs as he turned to face Lise. “I think we’re going to be more than okay? At least I hope, don’t you?”

“I do.” Lise nodded and she felt him place a hand on her waist as he took a step closer to her and leaned down for a quick kiss. 

Lise tried not to smile like an idiot. She hadn’t felt this sort of thrill with someone in a long time. 

“I’ll get the juice ready,” she said, taking advantage of turning her back to him and hiding her face in the refrigerator - the cold breeze welcome against the hot skin of her cheeks. She grabbed the orange juice and moved to the cupboard with the glasses. She poured them both a glass and set them on the kitchen table before returning the juice to the fridge. Then she got out the cutlery, just as John brought over two plates of eggs. 

“Is everything going to change now?” Lise asked, halfway through her breakfast.

John’s fork stilled as he considered this. “I think some things might. But the heart of it will still be the same.”

Lise cocked her head inquisitively to the side.

“Well,” John explained, “we’re partners. Just, a different kind of partners now.”

“Partner?” Lise questioned, shocked by the words association to a serious commitment.

“I didn’t exactly mean it like that; I wasn’t trying to pressure you; I just meant-”

“I liked what it meant John.”

Silence.

A heart beat.

“You do?” he exhaled.

“I think you’re the only person I could ever envision myself with, like that.”

“Like partners?”

“Like partners,” Lise agreed with a smile. 

* * *

Lise sat in the car waiting for John. She had gone ahead to warm it up while John packed up their lunches. 

She noticed him stop by the mailbox on the way to the car. 

John had noticed the little red flag sticking up - Catherine had thought it was adorable when she first got it. 

But the mail man had never used it. 

Not only that, but the mail was delivered last afternoon and John had already gotten it when he got home from work yesterday.  _ So why was the little flag up? _

Reaching inside the mailbox he found a little card. 

His heart stopped.

_ Not again. _

Lise watched as John opened the card, his brows furrowing and his face blanching. He looked terrified. 

Lise got out of the car immediately. “John, what is it?”

John had brought his hand to his mouth before he began looking around the edge of the property. 

“John, what is it?”

His eyes watered as he handed over the card. 

It was a thank you card.

Lise opened it and began to read. 

_ You have a lovely daughter. Brown eyes, brown hair, perky tits. Just the way I like it.  _

_ I bet her cunt sings if you touch it just right. _

_ You don’t need to worry Detective Cardinal, I wouldn’t treat her like the others.  _

_ Kelly’s special. She’s mine.  _

_ I’d tie her up and make sure she had just enough pills in her system. I don’t want her to fight back, but I do want her conscious. I want her to feel everything. I want her to feel my cock tearing her in two; I want her to feel the sting on her skin when I abuse her body; the tightness in her lungs when my hand is wrapped around her throat. I might even decide to cut her. I bet she even bleeds pretty.  _

_ But most importantly, I want her to know that her Daddy’s the one who put her in danger. That way, while I’m fucking her, I know she’ll be thinking about you.  _

_ Zoe Carter’s Killer.  _

“Merde.” Lise felt sick to her stomach. She couldn’t even imagine what was going through John’s mind. 

“We have to get this to the lab.”

“What about Kelly?” she asked.

“I’ll talk to Dyson about getting over a patrol; but I don’t want to freak Kelly out.” Cardinal’s head dipped, his eyes looking to the ground. “It seems like every time she’s in town something terrible happens to her, I don’t want-”

“I understand.” Lise placed a hand on the outside of his arm. “Come on,” she tilted her head towards the car, “the quicker we get to work, the quicker she’ll be safe again.”

* * *

Cardinal spoke to Dyson as soon as he had gotten to the station; he showed her the card - not wanting to keep it a secret like he had the last time. As a precaution, Dyson sent Fox to check up on Kelly. 

Delorme and McLeod were tasked with following up on the restaurant leads from the interview with Nina; meanwhile, Cardinal went to the lab to see if the techs could lift any prints off the card. 

It was an important piece of evidence - regardless of what it meant for Kelly’s safety. 

Not only did they now have a sample of the killers handwriting, but he had admitted to murdering Zoe Carter and  _ having others _ . Now they could compare suspects' handwriting samples, or maybe even prints. 

But the lab techs were not that lucky. 

After watching the techs work for a little over three hours John texted Dyson. She met him in the observation room and together they washed up and entered the lab to see what results they were able to pull off the card.

“It looks like they wrote it while wearing gloves.” Geoffrey Pale, a tall balding man in his late forties, stated. He was leary to make eye-contact with Cardinal, especially after having read the contents of the message, so he mostly pronounced his findings to Dyson.

“Gloves?” she was confused as to how the techs knew this. 

“There is latex residue conclusive with a right handed person. The latex drags along the card where the side of the palm would if you were writing.” Pale demonstrated for Dyson’s benefit.

“But there were no prints? No DNA?” Cardinal interrupted. “Just latex residue?”

“I’m sorry. But the card’s clean - with the exclusion of yours, Delorme, and Dyson’s prints of course.”

“Dammit.” John huffed under his breath, bringing a hand up to rub along the stubble on his jaw. 

Dyson tilted her head at Pale, communicating for him to make an exit. Pale nodded his head and ducked into his office.

“John, it’s not the end of the world. We have a confession here; we have handwriting here!”

“You know handwriting isn’t conclusive, it doesn’t always hold up in court.”

Dyson resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “But it’s a start. It’s the best start this case has had in a long time.” Noelle sighed. “And we’re going to keep Kelly safe.”

“I know,” John nodded, but the anger began to build up inside him regardless. “Twisted fucking pervert!” he shouted, moving away from Dyson.

“Why don’t you go for a walk and clear your head?” she suggested. “Then you can go check up on Delorme and Mcleod, see if they’ve had better luck?”

John nodded. Maybe some air would be good.

* * *

“Yes, thank you for your time.” Lise hung up the phone and crossed the next name off her list - she was only about halfway through. 

“According to these records only three people used their credit cards and ordered the rabbit pie on June 14 2017. Unless this Nina woman was wrong about what he ate-”

“She wasn’t wrong,” Delorme cut McLeod off with an intense glare. 

“Then he must have used cash.”

Lise felt like she was about to question a child. “You called all the people who used credit though? Not just the ones who had pie?”

“Yes! I’m a detective, not an idiot!”

Lise rolled her eyes as if to say ‘debatable’.

McLeod chose to ignore the action in favour of keeping the peace between them. 

“Only fourteen parties paid with credit that day. But none of them were a single meal - they all ate with a party.” 

He pulled out the restaurant's receipts as well as the credit card companies. Delorme took a look at the highlighting McLeod had done in order to cross reference. 

“Only two of the credit cards belong to men. One is from Toronto, he’s Marty and Alice’s grandson he came up to visit - I called Marty and he confirmed that he stayed with them for a weekend two years ago, mentioned something about fishing. The other was Colin Woods; Colin couldn’t remember what he was doing two years ago so he’s going to get back to me; he did recall however that he and his wife ate together that day, she’d just told him she was pregnant. I’ll follow up more, but I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere Delorme.”

Lise sighed. “You’re right.” She felt her tongue go fat as she struggled to say the next words; “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” McLeod responded sarcastically. “Now what about the people in the Inn?”

“Same story,” Lise grunted. “He must have paid cash. There was one man who paid with his credit card.” Lise looked down at her notepad, “Maxwell Reed.”

McLeod snorted. “Max?”

“You know him?” Delorme was surprised.

McLeod nodded. “Yeah I know him, and I know exactly what he was doing at that Inn.”

Lise raised an eyebrow. 

“He was probably cheating on his wife.”

Delorme smirked. “That’s exactly what he told me. He said he didn’t want his wife to know, but he gave me the number of the woman he was seeing and she confirmed it.”

“Who was it?” McLeod had a lecherous grin on his face and Lise didn’t hide her eye roll this time. 

“Well, he definitely isn’t our guy. What idiot having an affair would use his credit card for one night at a hotel?”

McLeod laughed. “If you knew Max, you wouldn’t be surprised.”

Delorme rested her chin on her hand, feeling frustrated. “Our killer has made mistakes, but he’s not stupid. He’s smart, and he’s hungry for more, and that's what makes him dangerous.”

McLeod took a bite of his sandwich - they had worked well through lunch. “Well tomorrow you’ll have your sketch, you can take that to the Inn and Restaurant as well as the places you last saw Zoe.”

“True,” Delorme exhaled, trying to be more positive. She picked up the phone, determined to call the next number on her list, even though she knew it wouldn’t get her anywhere. 

* * *

An hour later John walked into the conference room. 

Delorme hadn’t even noticed until she felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and looked up at him. 

“Can I have a word?” he rasped. 

Delorme nodded and followed John into one of the narrow hallways beside the broken copy machine. 

“Where have you been all day?” she asked, and it came out harsher then she meant it.

“I spent all morning watching the lab techs.”

“Did you get a print?” Lise asked hopefully. 

“No.” John’s shoulders slumped: he had a habit of doing that; caused by a lifetime of being self conscious about his height. “He used gloves, so we didn’t get any DNA. All we know is that he’s right handed.”

“At least we have a sample of-”

“Everyone keeps saying that but it means nothing and you know it!” John yelled, catching Lise off guard. 

Delorme took a step back from him, her defenses kicking in. “What is this John? I know she’s your daughter but you’re letting this get to you. That shouldn’t be happening.”

John paced down the hall before turning back around to Lise. He felt guilty for yelling at her. With a softer, more sincere tone he said: “He’s been doing this for years Lise.”

“I know and we’re going to stop him,” she said confidently. There was a pause in their conversation where Cardinal began to cool down and Lise began to question  _ everything _ . “Is this about this morning?”

“What?” John didn’t understand her meaning. 

“Have you changed your mind?”

He understood then and responded immediately. “No Lise! Why would you think that?”

Lise ducked her head before swallowing the courage she needed to look up into his eyes. “If we’re going to try this John we’re going to have to be more open with each other. I know we trust each other explicitly but there is a difference between trust and openly sharing what you are feeling and thinking.” She took a breath. “I think we both have a tendency to avoid sharing.”

Cardinal felt a soft smile cross over his lips. She was right - like usual. “After what happened with Catherine … I don’t want to repeat the mistakes I made, with Kelly.”

Lise nodded, relieved his sharing meant he agreed with her proposal. 

“And to add to that,” John swallowed looking right into Lise’s eyes, his chest opening up with vulnerability, “bringing up Catherine, around you especially, makes me uncomfortable. I feel guilty and anxious and,” he took a deep breath, “it probably stems back to the fact that I know I was developing feelings for you when Catherine was still alive.” 

Lise felt her blood thicken in her veins. She reached a hand out, her fingers gently brushing against John’s. It was a tentative touch of comfort, of appreciation, but she couldn’t express more in the office. 

“Thank you for telling me.”

John nodded, surprised by the sense of relief he felt. 

“We’re going to get him John.”

John squeezed her hand tightly in acknowledgement. 

“Oh there you are-” Dyson stopped as she came across them in the hallway. She gave them a peculiar glance, not noticing the hands that eased from one another’s grasp. “Delorme, one of the guys you called about the Inn is here. You asked if he could swing by the station?”

“Right,” Delorme nodded, taking a step back from Cardinal. “Thank you Dyson.” 

* * *

Delorme and Cardinal had spent the last few hours of work going through the list of people who stayed at the Ravensbrook Inn in June 2017. They had set up a few follow up interviews for tomorrow, but Lise could tell that John was eager to return home early. She told him that he could go on ahead of her and she’d get one of the patrol guys to give her a lift - to which Cardinal countered that it would breed less gossip if he got the patrol cars to give him a lift and she drove her car home when she finished. Lise agreed. 

By nine o'clock she had finished sorting out credit card statements and correlating them with alibis. Delorme would still have more work tomorrow, but at least she had gotten most of it organized and out of the way. 

When she stumbled into the house she was surprised to find John alone in the living room, the table-side lamp glowing a dim yellow and the mystery novel he had been reading in his hand. Cardinal looked up to see her, his glasses perched on the end of his nose. 

“Where’s Kelly?”

“In her room.” He set down his book. “Probably on her computer I expect.”

Lise nodded, setting down her purse and toeing off her shoes.

“Have you eaten?”

Delorme gave him a look that said  _ no  _ as she hung up her coat in the closet. 

“I’ll heat up your dinner.” 

Lise was starving. She and John spoke lightly of the case; he also mentioned wanting to go to the hardware store on the weekend to fix the loose floorboards on the stairs off the back deck. 

When Lise was nearly finished with the meal she asked: “Have you told her?”

John turned his head towards the hallway. “No.”

“Is that wise?”

He sighed and Lise could see the answer written on his face even before he replied. “No.”

“Come on.” Lise stood up and cleaned off her plate before setting it into the sink. “We’re tired, let’s go to bed.”

John followed her with a grateful nod. 

* * *

When Lise came out of the washroom she joined him in bed. She was startled by his confidence when John snuck his arm under her neck and pulled her body towards his. She was cradled in his embrace. His chest was bare; his skin was warm; and his fingers were tracing light circles against her arm. 

“I’m very grateful for you.” He swallowed the lump in his throat, his ears wiggling with nerves. “I’m grateful for every capacity of you; as friend; partner; lover.” 

Lise smiled at the way he said lover like a question. But all her feelings of warmth began to sink when she realized she needed to be truthful with him as well.

“I’m not very good with commitment John.” 

She was slightly offended when John let out a true laugh.

“You think I didn’t know that?” He nudged her closer to him until he got more serious. “I know how you lied to Josh, remember?”

Lise hated thinking about that. She had been an absolute dick to Josh and she hated herself for it. “It was the assignment; investigating you was too big of an opportunity. I couldn’t have a baby then. Besides, Josh was never the right person for me.” Lise turned, placing a hand on his chest so she could look him in the eyes. “I put work first John, I always have. That’s not going to change just because you and I share the same job.”

“But it helps doesn’t it? I understand what the job means to you.”

Lise bit down on the inside of her cheek before she turned to face him properly. “You and I are fundamentally different John. You put people first, the ones you love. You were prepared to sacrifice your entire career - you were prepared to go to jail - just to protect Catherine. I’m a selfish person John, I don’t know if I could do that.”

“You might think you’re selfish, but I know that you also have a big heart.” John brought his left hand to her check, the back of his knuckles gently caressing the skin. “I just think you haven’t found the people in life that you would give it all up for yet.”

“Do you mean you…”

Cardinal shook his head almost immediately. “I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on you, or on this relationship. We think this is going to work, and we might want it to work, but sometimes … that might not be enough.”

“That seems very unfair.”

“It does doesn't it,” he said as he played with a tendril of Lise’s soft brown hair. 

“But what if I’ve loved you all this time?”

His lips found hers with a fierce lunge forward. He pulled her up onto his body, their stomachs meeting as he wrapped his arms around her back and she angled the kiss. One of his hands wound its way into her hair as their breath became ragged and their concentration became single minded. He grunted into her mouth when he felt her hips roll against his body, attempting to get herself in a comfortable position more conducive to their lovemaking. 

But he didn’t want things to move this fast and he knew she didn’t either. Pulling back from her lips he stared into her eyes as their heavy breathing subsided. 

A thought flickered through his mind. In that moment, as he stared at Lise, he realized that she had, in fact, already given her job up for him - before they were truly even partners. Lise had chosen to hide his secret in favour of the promotion, it had even blacklisted her in certain circles. Lise didn’t even realize it, but she had already done exactly what Cardinal had been willing to do for his wife. 

_ Fuck _ Cardinal thought, in a good way. 

Perhaps they both really were already in love with one another. 

* * *

Delorme, Cardinal, and McLeod decided to split up the next day, each with their own constable. They had a few people to visit who used their credit cards at the Ravensbrook Inn or the Restaurant Nina worked at and it was protocol to eliminate them as suspects. 

It had taken all morning but, unfortunately, they managed to eliminate all possible suspects. 

It was likely Nina’s rapist used cash. 

“Why don’t you go over the suspects you already have for the Carter girl?” McLeod suggested from behind his computer screen as the team ate lunch. “The cases might not be linked?”

“They’re linked McLeod.” Cardinal said firmly. He considered himself sort of an aficionado of linking cases. 

“So maybe you already have the guy? What about Daniel Green, the one she was messaging?”

Lise shook her head. “He has an alibi: multiple people at his work; he was also seen on security footage at a job site.”

“So what about the other guy she was messaging?”

Cardinal gave McLeod a look that said he didn’t need his interference. “Dev couldn’t find any way to trace him. The IP address came from library computers and an office building near Palmer Street, but there was no way for him to pinpoint where exactly.”

“Couldn’t you get a warrant to search every computer in the building?” McLeod shrugged only to glare at Delorme when she let out a little snort of amusement.

“Even Dyson couldn’t convince a judge for that.”

“What about the mother and father then?”

“McLeod I know you’re trying to help but this isn’t helping,” Cardinal snapped.

McLeod scrunched up his face. “Well, maybe you’ll get a break when you meet with the sketch artist today?”

* * *

“So this is him?”

“Nina was very sure of herself.” Parker Finch, the department's sketch artist, handed over his sketchbook. 

Lise regarded the sketch. He was a very handsome man. He had a long angular nose, it looked like it might have been broken at one point. His head was slightly squared, his jaw firm and dusted with stubble. He was rugged, but had a princely heir to him. His hair was neatly styled and his eyes were very large and beautifully shaped. He had long lashes. 

“The style of his hair, was that a creative choice or…”

“Nina was very specific. She also mentioned that he was wearing a dress shirt and had an expensive watch.”

“Interesting.” Lise turned to look up at her partner. “Do we think he might be a working professional?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore.” Just then Cardinal’s phone received a notification. “Excuse me.” He turned away from Delorme and Finch who were discussing the accuracy of the sketch. When he opened up the image from an unknown number he felt his stomach drop. “Shit.”

“Cardinal?” Delorme turned to him.

“I have to go back home.”

“Did you forget something?” 

John thrust his cell phone into Lise’s hand. Lise looked down. It was a photograph of a naked woman’s back; she had long brown hair. The photo was zoomed in, framed by a window. Lise could make out a shower.

She knew that shower. 

It was her shower.

“It’s Kelly!” Lise’s eyes were wide with fear. “I’ll start the car, you tell Dyson!” she said urgently. 

* * *

This wasn’t the first time Lise had entered John’s house with her gun drawn. The first time things had gone less than ideally. This time Lise was relieved to find that Kelly was alone and safe. 

“What the hell is going on!” the young woman shouted from the couch after her father and his partner had finished clearing the rest of the rooms in the house.

John ignored his daughter's question, instead he turned to Lise. “I’ll go check the perimeter, you stay with her.”

Lise nodded, going to stand by the living room window and watch his movements. 

“What is going on Lise?”

Lise looked down the driveway at Cardinal. She knew he didn’t want to worry Kelly, but it was about time she knew what was going on. “Zoe Carter’s killer,” she turned to look at the slim brunette, “he was here. He sent a picture of you in the bathroom to your father.”

“What?” Kelly stood up from the couch. “He was here, outside?”

“Yesterday he sent us a letter; he’s targeting you in order to toy with John.”

Kelly sat back down on the couch like a stone. “Are we safe here?”

“I’m certain your father will plan on staying with you for at least a day.” Lise holstered her gun, not wanting to worry Kelly any further. “We must be close Kelly, he wouldn’t make a move like this if we hadn’t gotten close to him.” A thought occurred to Lise in that moment - they had already met their killer. “We just haven’t realized it yet.” Lise couldn’t believe that McLeod had actually been fucking right, that they already crossed paths with their killer at some point.

Just then Cardinal came back into the house. He was on the phone, most likely with Dyson. “We’re going to stay here for the rest of the day. Yeah.” His head nodded against the phone, “Yeah. No you don’t need to send a patrol. Okay.” He hung up and put his phone back into his pocket. 

“Is everything alright dad?” Kelly walked towards her father. 

“Yes, the property is clear. We’re going to stay and I’ll stay with you tomorrow until we can set something else up.”

Kelly took a step forward and hugged her father. She looked so small against him. “I’m going to go to my room and call a friend okay?”

He looked into her eyes, his hands still holding firmly to the outside of her arms. “As long as you’re sure you’re alright?”

Kelly smiled weakly. “I will be once I speak to Cassie - she’ll calm me down.”

Cardinal nodded, briefly touching Kelly’s cheek before she made her way down the hall and closed the bedroom door behind her. 

Lise walked up to Cardinal. “John I think McLeod was right.”

Cardinal laughed, not expecting to hear that come from Lise’s mouth.

“I think we already found our guy when we canvassed Zoe’s neighbourhood. How else would he know who you were if we didn’t introduce ourselves at his door?”

John’s face lit up with hope, the lines on his forehead easing. “You’re right.”

“Tomorrow, McLeod and patrol can revisit all the original routes with the sketch and I can backtrack Zoe’s last movements.”

Despite the stress he was under, John smiled. “We’re gonna get him.”

“We’re close.”

“And he knows it.”

* * *

“She’s been in there a long time.” Cardinal stated as Lise handed him the last dish to dry. “Do you think she’s okay?”

“Would you like me to check on her?”

“Would you?”

Lise responded with a smile. She dried off her hands and made her way down the hallway to her former bedroom.

Lise knocked on the door and opened it just a crack. “Kelly? It’s Lise, may I come in?”

Kelly nodded from the place on her bed.

“Did your friend help?”

“Yeah,” Kelly smiled fondly, “she’s great.” 

Lise felt so utterly out of her depths. She wasn’t good at talking to other girls when she was Kelly’s age and she certainly didn’t have any idea how to do it now. She didn’t think Kelly would appreciate it if she treated her like a victim to be interviewed.

Fortunately, Kelly broke the silence for her.

“Lise?” 

“Yes?”

“My dad wasn’t on the couch last night.”

Lise swallowed. 

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. 

“The couch is small.” Lise shrugged her shoulders. “Beds are big enough for two people.”

Kelly sat up on her bed. “So he slept with you?”

_ Fuck _ , Lise thought. Time to come clean. “For two nights now.”

“Do you like it? Sleeping next to him?”

Lise felt her heart stutter. Somehow she had become the one being interrogated. “Yes,” she admitted. 

“Are you going to keep doing it? When I go back to Toronto for the school year?”

Lise took an exalting breath. “I think so.”

* * *

John stared up at the ceiling as Lise settled in beside him. “He’s getting too close, he’s going to make another mistake soon.”

“I think you’re right,” she agreed. 

They shifted. John turned to his side, Lise tucked herself into his embrace, his hand over her stomach. She could feel him breathing against the back of her neck.

“Kelly knows,” she whispered.

“Hmm?” 

“She knows you’re here. She knows we’ve been sharing your bed.”

“How?”

“You weren't on the couch last night when she went to get a glass of water.” 

No response. 

And then John pulled her closer to him. “I’m glad it was you who had that conversation instead of me.”

Lise chuckled before pulling the blankets up higher around her neck and snuggling into John for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/JustADearie) and [tumblr](https://justadearie.tumblr.com/)


	5. Dameon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lise get's too close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There should probably be some warnings in here ... mind the tags?

She woke up spooned against him. She could tell that he was still sleeping because his grip on her stomach was loose. She squirmed around a bit, burrowing under the covers to allow herself ten more minutes. As she adjusted she began to notice his hard shaft pressed against her bottom. It wasn’t the first time Lise had woken up with a man’s morning wood poking into her - but this was Cardinal. Her stomach dropped. She wanted to move against him; she wanted to pull him out of his pajama bottoms and wrap her hand around his shaft and pump; she even imagined him inside of her. 

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” John moved his hips away from her slightly. 

Lise rolled over to face him. “Don’t be sorry,” she whispered. “Can I?” She looked down at the blankets, one of her hands coming up to his chest. 

John swallowed as her hand journeyed beneath the blankets. He looked into her hazel eyes just as he felt her hand cup him through his pants. His nails dug into her waist. 

“Lise.”

“Oui,” she whispered as she leaned forward to capture his lips in a kiss. She felt his tongue enter her mouth immediately as his hand slid up to cup her breast. She gripped him firmly through his pants, causing him to grunt and shunt his hips forward. 

Feeling bold Lise dipped her hand beneath the waistband of his pants. She fumbled with his underwear until she could wrap her hand around John’s cock. She felt the flutter of John’s breath against her lips as he was overcome by her fingers stroking him. 

Wanting fair play, John ducked his hand under Lise’s shirt, cupping a breast in his hand and running his thumb along her nipple. 

Their kissing was fierce and Lise wanted _more_ but the alarm on her cell phone went off like a bucket of cold water being splashed against her skin. She groaned in frustration, and Cardinal smiled against her lips. 

“We have work to do.”

Lise whimpered, squeezing his cock to emphasize her desire to play instead. 

“Fuck Lise, that’s not fair.” He pressed his forehead against her own. “We have a killer to catch.”

“I know,” Lise sighed, removing her hand from his pants and planting it onto his chest.

“There will be time for this when we’ve caught him, and when Kelly is safely back home in Toronto.” 

* * *

Cardinal stayed home with Kelly as promised; Fox and McLeod took copies of the sketch to Zoe’s neighbourhood; and Lise retraced Zoe’s last route on the day she went missing. 

Lise started at the flower shop in the morning; she was hoping to retrace Zoe’s steps at the same time she had taken them the day she went missing.

“Do you recognize this man?” Lise showed the sketch to a group of girls at the flower shop. 

One of the girls looked at Everly, the owner, as if to ask her permission to share what she knew. 

“Well speak girl.” Everly rolled her eyes, knowing the girls didn’t like to gossip when their boss was around.

Kaitlyn turned her head back to Detective Delorme, the curls in her red ponytail bouncing with the movement. “I’ve seen him walking Zoe home before.”

“You have?” Lise asked skeptically. 

“Yes, over by Palmer. I remember thinking it was strange, her walking her bike beside this guy in a suit. He was handsome.”

“He wore a suit?” Lise began to feel a flutter of anxiety in her stomach.

“Yes. I saw them together twice.” Kaitlyn’s thin red brows furrowed, “but not recently...” 

“What do you mean recently?” Delorme pushed, knowing they had missed something, knowing he had been under their nose the entire time. The girls had told them about a man the first time they interviewed them, but they had nothing to go off back then. Now, with a face, they had something. 

“The last time I saw him was a week or two before Zoe … before she was gone.” Kaitlyn hung her head, feeling uncomfortable more than she did sad. 

“Do any of you know his name?” 

The girls looked at each other. 

For a moment Lise feared they wouldn't share in order to protect someone. 

“No. Zoe had been distant recently,” Emer piped up. “She didn’t really share things with us anymore. We assumed it was because she was spending time with a guy.”

“You’re sure you don’t know his name.”

“Can you leave the sketch at the shop?” Everly asked. “We can keep a more vigilant eye out for him.”

Lise nodded, handing over one of her copies and wishing the ladies a good day. 

* * *

Afterwards, Lise went across the street to the business near the flower shop; she showed them the sketch but she wasn’t getting anywhere - most people remarked how he looked very ordinary.  _ It was true _ , Lise thought; the suspect could be almost any Caucasian man with a light beard, save for his nose and the shape of his jaw. 

Feeling a little forlorn, Lise seated herself in a nearby coffee shop in order to watch the people passing by Everly’s Florals.  Lise’s mind began to wander as she watched cars rush past. Kaitlyn said the suspect was seen walking Zoe home on Palmer - but Zoe didn’t live near Palmer. In fact, there was mostly bars and office buildings down that way. _Could their suspect, the man who Nina identified as her rapist, could he be the same guy Zoe was messaging?_ _The one Dev couldn’t trace?_

Lise made a call to Dev, to see if he could help her with her theory. She also made a call to Cardinal, just to check in. 

After additional calls to Dyson, Fox, and McLeod, to see where everyone was at, it was just after lunch and time for Zoe’s delivery route to start. 

* * *

Zoe’s route crossed paths with some of the canvasing McLeod and Fox were doing - Lise didn’t want to go to the doors again, but she wanted to be in the neighborhood in case, perchance, she noticed the suspect. If he walked Zoe home there was a chance he lived near her. 

Lise found herself walking down Palmer, stepping into the bars and convenience stores along the way. She couldn't show the sketch in the upper floor offices, but she did show it to the receptionists and security guards. 

One security guard, a big man with a gentle demeanor looked at the sketch for a considerable time.

“He works here.”

Lise almost didn’t believe him. “This man works in this building?”

“Yes. I have to watch them swipe their cards when they enter.” The security guard pointed towards the scanning machine and the computer that displayed the credentials of employees. 

“Do you know his name?”

The guard winced. “Not off the top of my head. This place is a big advertising firm. I only make it my business to know the names of the bosses - that’s what’s important.”

Lise sized up the man before her. He seemed nice enough, perhaps he would be willing to give her the information she needed. “Do you think you could look him up for me?” she tilted her head towards the computer. “Scroll through the employees pictures until you recognize him?”

The security guard shifted on his feet. He placed his hand in the loops of his belt hoping to portray a position of confidence. “I don’t know detective. Don’t you need a warrant for that? What’s this guy done anyways?”

“That’s Dameon.”

Both Delorme and the security guard turned around to look at the receptionist. 

A woman in her early thirties with sandy blond hair was smiling intently at the sketch in Delorme’s hand. “Dameon always says good morning to me. He has such a sweet smile.” The receptionist looked out the window fondly. “He just stepped out for coffee about fifteen minutes ago.”

Delorme’s heart began to pump, partly with excitement and partly with fear. “He just stepped out, do you know where he goes for coffee?”

The receptionist smiled, pleased with herself. “He always goes to the Tims around the corner on Cornwall.”

Lise took a step towards the receptionist. Delorme handed her the sketch, making sure she got a good look at the man. “Do you know his full name?”

The receptionist's blond hair fell over her face as she studied the image, trying to recall the man’s name. “Greg … Granger! Dameon Granger.”

“Do you know where he lives?” Lise asked.

“No idea.” The receptionist shrugged and handed back the sketch. “He’s mentioned that he takes care of his sick mom on Main though; he used to be a med student, you know, till he switched to advertising.”

“ _ Christ _ ,” Lise said, under her breath. “Thank you!” she said to the receptionist with a smile as she turned to exit the building. 

* * *

They had gotten closer then he ever imagined they would. 

The detective had a sketch of him.  _ How did she get that? _

And the fucking receptionist bitch had told her his name! He knew it was stupid being friendly to her; she wasn’t even his type. Now they knew who he was.

He needed to fix this or he was fucked.

He needed to take her.

The detective was pretty; a little too old for his taste; but it wouldn’t be a hardship. 

If she had just found out his identity then it was likely they didn’t know where he had taken the girls. It would be safe there.

* * *

“John! John I’ve got him!” Lise said into her phone as she came to the intersection of Palmer and Cornwall. “A receptionist at 304 Palmer recognized the sketch. It’s Dameon Granger - his mother is the one on Main who got Zoe to help in the backyard! That’s where he must have met her. I’m going to the Tims on Cornwall to watch-” But Lise was cut off as she bumped into a large chest. “Excuse me,” Lise looked up to see the face of the man who she had run into. Lise froze. She tried not to give away her shock, but she could tell by the cocky grin on his face and the gleam in his eyes that he knew. 

Suddenly he pushed her against the wall, looking around the empty street.

Lise fought him, her arms flailing as one of his large hands came to her mouth. She struggled, her cellphone and the sketch falling to the floor. She tried to stomp on his foot, elbow him in the gut but she began to lose focus as panic overcame her. 

He was trying to push something into her mouth. 

Lise knew what it was. She tried to bite him but then he wrapped one hand around her throat, forcing her mouth open. Lise’s eyes watered as she was forced to swallow the pills. She could hear Cardinal screaming on the other side of the line. 

The last thing she remembered was the tingling in her arms and the hand over her mouth taking away her breath as she fell unconscious.

* * *

“Lise?” His breathing was quick as he shouted into the phone. “Lise? Lise?”

“Is everything okay dad?” Kelly asked, poking her head into the kitchen.

“No.” He looked at Kelly, no longer hearing any scuffle on the other end of the line. “Lise is in trouble.” He put down his phone and picked up a jacket that was hanging on the back of one of the chairs. “I have to go Kelly,” he said earnestly, then he paused - he knew he couldn’t leave Kelly alone. “Will you come with me to the station?”

“Yes.” Kelly said quickly before she ran to get her own coat and shoes. 

* * *

Dyson stood in front of a sea of officers and detectives. These briefings always became more intense the moment a fellow officer was involved. “Our suspect's name is Dameon Granger!” Dyson waited a moment as copies of a photo Dev had pulled up on the suspects social media were being passed around. “I want all available techs looking into his personal information; I’m talking credit cards, social media, his office, everything.” The information techs who were in the far right corner nodded. “I also want video surveillance of Palmer, let’s see if we can track his movements and find out where he took Lise. We also need information on where we think he might have taken her.” Dyson turned to the patrol officers in their uniforms. “Officers, I want you patrolling Palmer, Main, Cornwall, and the surrounding areas - it’s unlikely he’s taken her there but there might be some sign of them. McLeod, you and Carson go to Beth Granger's house.” Both detectives nodded. “Alright people, let’s bring Lise Delorme home!”

As the horde of employees made their way out of the room Dyson moved towards Cardinal.

“Cardinal?”

John’s head popped up. 

“I’ll keep an eye on Kelly,” Dyson whispered as she looked at the young woman who was sitting in the conference room on her computer. “You be safe. I know about …” she paused. “ _ I know _ , but don’t let it cloud your judgment. Use logic first.”

“You know?”

“I see the way you look at Lise. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s only a matter of time.”

John nodded. “I’ll be smart.” 

* * *

Cardinal got out of the car before Fox could even put it in park. 

John crossed the road, ignoring the oncoming traffic. He was shocked that the cell phone still sat on the sidewalk next to some blackened gum. John picked up the phone, his eyes scanning the ground for any sign of the sketch, but it had most likely blown away. He pressed the home button on Lise’s phone, an image of her and her soccer team in the background. His heart sank. 

“It’s hers,” John said to Fox who had finally made his way over to join him. John looked around the intersection. “If we’re lucky, the forensic team can find out where he took her using those security cameras.” John pointed out the two cameras he was referring to. 

“I’ll call Dyson and let her know.” Fox pulled out his own phone and walked back towards his patrol car. 

“Oh Lise,” John said, looking down at the image of her, his body shaking with the fear of losing another woman he loved.

* * *

When Lise woke up she was surprised to realize her tongue was numb. It was an unusual sensation, but it was the first thing that came to her. The next thing she noticed was the bright stripe of light in her eye. Squinting, a window with dark blue blinds came into view. The window must have been open because the slight breeze was making the blinds clank against each other, causing the light to shift over her face. 

Lise tried to get up but her muscles felt lax. She felt a resistance when she attempted to lift her hand, and that’s when she noticed the ropes. Lise tried to see her feet, although it was difficult to hold the weight of her head up. When she wiggled her foot she concluded that her feet were also tied up by the smooth rope. 

As her mind began to focus she took stock of the room she was in. It was a small bedroom - dated brown paneling for walls. She couldn’t tell if there was carpet but she knew she was in an old iron framed bed. She noticed one closet door and the hallway door next to each other. And in the corner of the room there was a dark shape. At first she thought it was a coat rack but then it began to move towards her, the light from the window changing the angle of the shadows and giving view to a face. 

“Are you his partner?” Dameon Granger asked.

“What?” Lise questioned, still groggy. 

“Are you his partner?” Dameon lightly slapped Lise’s face, encouraging her senses to return to her. “I had been hoping to take his daughter.” Dameon stated before his eyes raked over Lise’s body. 

That was when Lise realized her pants had been taken off. A bolt of fear shot through her as she realized what Dameon had planned for her.

“You’re a little too old for my type - but I think you’ll do.” His hand brushed against her hip bone, his thumb slipped into the top band of the black panties before letting them snap back down against her skin. “Now answer the question, are you his partner?”

“Cardinal?”

“Yes.” Dameon smiled, pulling something from a pile of clothing that was sitting on a chair near Lise’s right foot. “Lise Delorme.” He read from Lise’s police ID. “Are you his partner?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Dameon smiled - his teeth very white and straight. “You’re probably wondering where you are?” 

Lise nodded, feeling less dizzy this time then when she had first looked down to her feet. 

“This is my cabin and you’re not the first girl I’ve brought here for a little,” Dameon reached out and trailed a finger up Delorme’s thigh, “fun.” 

Delorme’s stomach pinched. She tried to ignore his touch and think clearly. “Really? How many have there been?”

Dameon laughed, his head tilting back to reveal his neck, covered in stubble. “Do you think I’m that stupid?” He surged forward and slapped Lise across the face. 

The action was so violent that Lise’s head banged against the side of the mattress. Ironically, the pain allowed her to think more clearly and that’s when she noticed a flaw - the end of the metal bed posts that she was tied to were loose. The bed was quite old and Lise remembered having a very similar one in their guest bedroom growing up. Therefore, Lise knew the frame was only held together by screws - if she applied the right amount of force…

* * *

“I’ve got her.” Dev whispered over his computer screen, his thick black hair falling over the front of his face. “I’ve got her!” he said a little louder this time, the heads of the other techs turning towards him. 

The commotion must have somehow made its way to Dyson who entered the computer labs only moments later. 

“What did you get Dev?”

“I got his car!” Dev tilted his computer screen so Dyson could see better. He pulled up the surveillance video. “He dragged her to the parking structure around the corner. The fool set her down here, while he went to get his car.” 

Dyson felt uncomfortable as she watched an immobile Lise, discarded on the sidewalk, no bystanders there to help her. Moments later a car pulled up beside her and a man got out. 

“He tied her hands with something and tossed her in the back seat.” Dev paused the video and played it again for Dyson. “She’s alive, but she looks unconscious or something.” 

“Did you get the plate?” Dyson asked. 

Dev gave her a charming grin. “I did.” He pulled up the isolated and enhanced image of the license plate. 

“This is good.” Dyson turned to regard the rest of the room. “I want everyone tracking this license plate, on roads, highways, and in the surrounding areas!”

“I have him turning left out of the parking structure onto Cornwall,” Dev added, “we can start from there.”

Dyson let out a sigh as majority of the room went back to work, understanding the gravity of the situation. She would have to update the patrol units and the detectives, they now had a make and model to look out for. “He’s fucked up,” Dyson said under her breath, “but he wouldn’t be stupid enough to take her to his mother’s house.”

“He doesn’t have any property under his name.” One of the techs who had been tasked with tracking personal finances piped up. 

“Maybe the mother does?” Dyson suggested. “Or do we know anything about his father? Or other family?”

“We’re on it boss,” the tech replied. 

* * *

Dameon hit her again and Delorme felt the anger welt up inside of her. 

“Don’t worry Detective,” he began to roll up the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt, “I don’t plan on keeping you very long. I’ll use you and then leave you as a gift for your partner to find.” He smirked, his eyes fixating on the goosebumps on Lise’s skin. 

Lise felt the bed dip beside her as he knelt onto the mattress, moving to straddle her. She felt his hands on her stomach, pushing up the end of her shirt. He loomed over her body, moving close to her face to whisper, “Isn’t that nice of me?”

Lise took the moment of vulnerability to headbutt him, her firm forehead landing right against his nose.

Dameon leaned back in pain. “What the fuck!” he shouted, moving off her hips, a droplet of blood falling onto the white bedding. His nose was bleeding as he brought a hand up to his face. “I’m going to fucking kill you!” he threatened before leaving the room to tend to his nose.

He had left the door open. Lise could see what looked like a front door and phone mounted on the wall!

Lise took the opportunity to kick at the end of the bedposts. She used her hands to grab onto the top of the bed posts, feeling the restriction from the rope around her ankles as she used the leverage to push all of her weight down on the bottom bed posts. After three or four attempts the frame was coming loose, she could feel the bed shaking. Dameon was still in the other room. She kicked again, nearly crying with the burning caused by the ropes and all her movement, but it had paid off - the metal had kicked free on one side, a few more kicks and the frame gave way. 

“What the hell, you bitch!” Dameon stormed in at the sound of the bed collapsing. 

Lise tried to stop him from approaching her by kicking her legs in the air, directing the metal bed posts towards Dameon as a weapon. But even though his nose was broken and bleeding he managed to avoid the bedpost. Instead, he grabbed one of the ends and roughly pulled it down, causing Delorme to move with it. 

“You filthy little fucking bitch!” he struggled to settle Lise down and overpower her, until suddenly he began to smile and Lise lost focus. “I’ve never had such a challenge before!” he grinned wickedly.

In that moment Lise realised she could see the firm outline in his pants - this was arousing him. Lise felt sick and frustrated. 

Dameon had managed to straddle her, her ankles weighed down by the bedpost and her wrists still tied to the headboard. The wooden board of the bed had semi-slipped to the floor at an angle, the mattress awkwardly following it, but the lack of comfort wasn’t going to stop Dameon, not when he had such a feisty prize beneath him. He put his hands around Lise’s throat and began to squeeze, feeling the thrill pumping through his veins. 

Lise closed her eyes, she couldn't think of a way out. She felt a knee nudge at her thigh and she knew what was coming next.

* * *

“The last place I’ve got the car is somewhere on Sparrow Lake, Highway Six. Anybody got anything related?” Jeff, one of the techs, shouted out as he added it to the white board of important info at the front of the room.

“Wait!” Dev scrolled through some pages on his laptop. “Wait did you say Sparrow Lake?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” Dev shouted again, running up to the front of his room with his laptop, his hair flopping. He showed his laptop to Jeff and Dyson. “His step-father had a place on Sparrow Lake!”

Dyson looked over the address and waited for Jeff's nod of assent before picking up her radio. “All units, be advised we have a location of interest at 4318 Highway Six on Sparrow Lake, unit one, the call is yours.”

* * *

Lise must have still been feeling the effects of the drugs because she could have sworn she heard John.

She refused to open her eyes though, she was certain her mind was playing tricks on her - trying to make her feel comfortable in a moment of absolute fear. 

But then she heard more movement, she felt a weight lifted off her midsection.

“Police! Put your hands behind your back!”

She heard shouting, but wasn’t certain of the words, her ears were suddenly ringing. 

“Lise?” 

It sounded like a scratchy whisper. 

“Lise? Are you okay? Can you open your eyes?”

Lise blinked until Cardinal’s face became clear to her. 

“John?”

“Are you okay?” John brought a hand up to her check. “Did he?” he looked down towards Lise’s bare legs.

“No. I don’t think so.” But Lise couldn’t be certain. 

“We’ve got a medic on route.” John said as he turned to look at Lise’s wrists. “I’ll get them to check you out.” He began to untie the knots next to the headboard.

“How did you find me?” Lise asked, wincing as her left hand was untied. She noticed that John was wearing a vest. The next thing she noticed was that Dameon was no longer in the room.

“Dev traced Dameon Granger’s step-father's records; turns out he owned a little cabin on Sparrow Lake.”

“We’re on Sparrow Lake?”

“Yes.” Cardinal confirmed as both Lise’s hands were free.

Unexpectedly, Lise pulled him into a hug, her feet still tied up. 

“Thank you.” She said, not caring about the odd position or whoever happened to be in the room still. 

John gave her a side smile as he pulled away, clearing his throat and moving to untie Lise’s ankles.

“I would have gotten out, you know.” Lise said confidently, despite having just lived through a terrifying experience. 

“I know, it looks like you put up a good fight.” John gestured towards the state of the bed and it was the first time that Lise realized she had quite literally kicked the old bed apart.

“I would have gotten out,” she reiterated. “It might have been after he… but, I would have gotten out.”

“You don’t give up do you?” John smiled.

“Never.”

* * *

When the medics got to the scene they put Delorme in a stretcher. She wasn’t happy about all the fuss, she felt fine, except for the chaffing on her wrists and ankles. But she knew she needed to be examined, they needed any evidence for the case. 

Cardinal had insisted that he go with Lise. Dyson cleared it and assured Cardinal that she would handle Dameon, who was currently being shoved inside of a squad car. 

Cardinal had waited in Lise’s private room while she was assessed. Abby oversaw the rape kit, collected the evidence, and took photographs of Lise’s injuries. 

When Lise was returned to her room the nurse gave her a reassuring smile and closed the door behind her as she left.

John, who had been standing in the corner pacing, finally approached the side of Lise’s bed. He reached out for Lise’s hand and lightly brought it to his lips.

Lise felt a wetness on her hand and she realized he was crying.

“Lise, I was so scared!” he admitted, his defenses breaking down as his shoulders were wracked with sobs.

Lise encouraged him to sit on the edge of her bed as she brought him down into an unconventional hug. 

“I was too John.” She ran a hand through his hair, letting her own tears fall into their embrace.

When John seemed to have calmed down Delorme playfully added, “At least I’ll have a new nightmare to disturb you with now.”

John pulled away from her, impressed by her ability to be so lighthearted after…such an experience. 

“I’m never going to make this mistake again.” John looked into her rich brown eyes. 

“What mistake?”

“Of not being with you. As colleagues and as everything else.” He brought a hand up to stroke the smooth skin of her cheek. “Lise, I couldn’t survive without you. And I’m in love with you.”

Lise felt her entire body relax. To hear those words, the words that mean everything to her. It made her certain that everything was going to be alright. 

“I love you too John.” She replied and he leaned down to rest his forehead against her own, gently brushing his lips against hers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that sure was a heavy chapter! But Lise is a fighter!


	6. Lise and John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All things must come to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter! The response I've gotten for this fic has truly been unbelievable. When I was writing, I was solely writing for myself because I thought maybe one other person would read it! But you've all left such wonderful comments for me; posting into this fandom has become such a positive experience. So thank you to everyone who joined me on this journey!
> 
> With that being said, I finally prove to you why this fic is rated explicit!

Lise had been released from the hospital that same day. They had given her a nice dose of pain medication to help her sleep and she passed out as soon as John and Kelly had tucked her into bed.

When she woke up the next morning, the events of the previous day had seemed so distant. She walked into the living room to find John reading the paper and Kelly on her laptop. Lise looked towards the clock on the wall, 10:14, it read.

“What are you doing here? Isn’t Dameon in custody?” 

Cardinal looked over his shoulder to make eye contact with Delorme. “He is.” He set down the newspaper and stood up to walk towards her. One of his hands came to the side of her arm, feeling the need to brace her in case she became unsteady on her legs. “I was waiting for you to wake up. I wanted to make sure you were okay before I left.”

“I’m fine John. You need to go.”

Cardinal shifted on his feet, his body radiating an uncertain energy. “You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” She gave him that confident look that had passed between them many times before. “Keep me informed?” 

John grinned. “Of course.” He gave her a kiss to her cheek without even thinking and then turned to put his shoes on at the front door. “Be safe ladies!” he said to both girls before stepping into the car and reversing out of the driveway. 

“Are you _ really _ okay?” Kelly asked moments later when Lise was seated on the couch and with a cup of tea Kelly had made for her. 

“I don’t even know.” Lise shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t remember much. It happened so fast that I’ve almost forgotten it, does that make sense?”

Kelly nodded, validating Delorme’s feelings whether she really did understand what she was trying to express or not. 

“Really, I just remember the blinds, they were the old school kind that kept clacking, and the sun was burning into my eye.” Lise took a sip of the tea, looking out the front window in the living room. “He said there were others. He admitted it. I don’t remember if I told John that.” Lise set down her mug and was looking around the room for something.

“What is it? What do you need?”

“My phone, I don’t know where-”

“It’s in evidence.” Kelly explained before offering her own cell-phone to Lise.

“I should call John.”

* * *

“Okay, I’ll put it on file and the prosecution will decide if they call you or not.” John’s attention was taken away from the phone call as Dyson waved a hand towards him. “Everything else okay? Good,” he responded to Lise’s assurances. “I’ve got to go, we’re doing a line up with Nina in order to link the cases and add more charges.” John hung up the phone and then followed Dyson into the room.

Nina was there, standing in front of the two way mirror. 

“You can take your time when you first see them Nina. You don’t need to feel rushed or pressured, you just tell us if the man who you met at the Inn and raped you is among the men in the line-up. Do you understand?” Jerry Commanda stated, his hand resting gently on Nina’s shoulder for support.

Nina nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. She flinched slightly as the lights to the room in front of her came on.  _ He’s on the other side of the glass. He’s in custody. There is no way he can get to you.  _ Thoughts ran through her mind as the first gentleman was called forward, and then the second gentleman. As soon as she saw him, number three took a step forward, Nina instinctively took a step back.

“That’s him.” She shivered, feeling panic seep in as she looked into his eyes. “Number three, that’s the man who raped me.”

Nina had identified Dameon Granger.

They got him.

* * *

Dyson was shocked when John told her he didn’t want to be the one to lay down the charges. He didn’t even want to be present for the interviews. He didn’t want to give Granger the satisfaction. After all, this was  _ personal _ . Granger had gone after his daughter after his partner! 

“Are you sure?” Dyson asked, the two of them standing in the narrow interrogation hallway. 

“I’m sure.” Cardinal nodded. “I’m going with Fox to collect the evidence at the mother’s place.”

“Well, if you’re sure then?” she gave him one more chance to change his mind.

“I’m sure.”

Just then, one of the door’s opened.

McLeod was shepherding Granger into the interrogation room - the bigger man restrained with his arms behind his back and his wrists in cuffs.

Granger’s face lit up the moment he saw Cardinal.

“You got there just in time didn’t you!” Dameon taunted and McLeaod gave him a necessary shove while telling him to shut-up. “It was nice playing with your partner’s little cunt and perky tits! Do you know she kept calling your fucking name while I touched her?”

“Shut-up you sick bastard.” Dyson warned. “Get him into interrogation and get recording, I’ll be there in a second.” Dyson instructed McLeod, who happily shoved Granger into the interrogation room, a constable helping him during the transfer. “Don’t listen to him.” Dyson encouraged Cardinal. “You saw Lise, she headbutted the fucker, there is no way-”

“I know.” John cut off his DC.

“Speaking of, how is she? How’s Lise.”

“No nightmare’s last night. She slept nearly fifteen hours.” John sighed. “Kelly’s with her. They’ll take care of each other.”

* * *

The atmosphere of a house changes the moment that you know it was filled with sinister and vile thoughts. 

Dameon had lived in this middle-class sub-division with his mother in seeming innocence. 

He went to work every day.

He walked Zoe around the neighbourhood. He was a part of her life, and yet he had been invisible.

“Why are you here?” Mrs. Granger asked. She didn’t have her reading glasses on and she couldn’t understand what the warrant meant.

“We’re here to collect evidence for our current investigation Mrs. Granger. This warrant gives us the right to enter all areas of your home and take what our investigators deem to be necessary.” Fox said in an informative, and yet sensitive manner.

* * *

Lise sat on the bathroom floor in the master bedroom. The tiles were cold against her bare legs. She still had the marks on her ankles, and a bruise on her thigh. 

The hospital was supposed to be calling today.

They had the evidence from her rape kit.

* * *

John opened the door slowly. 

He was disgusted by how normal Dameon’s room was.

Every time he was confronted by the humanity of a killer it always made him sick. 

The vile things Dameon had shouted about Lise, the repeated sexual trauma to Zoe’s body - they were in complete contrast to the neat black headboard and crisp white bed sheets; the flowing navy curtains; or the black wood and sleek metal legs of the desk; and the matching bookcase filled with novels and medical journals. Everything was clean. Neat. Even the hair care and other personal hygiene products were aligned neatly on the bathroom counter-top. 

But then Cardinal found it. It was hanging on one of the hooks - on the back of the door, inside Dameon’s closet - next to an old bomber jacket.

It was Zoe’s missing windbreaker. 

Cardinal held his breath, raising a glove covered hand up to the jacket. He noticed the university's logo. He picked up the jacket, noticing something odd about its weight. 

Inside the pocket John pulled out a pair of panties, a small ring, and a little gold necklace with a dreamcatcher on it.

* * *

Even though she was expecting the call, the minute the house phone rang a jolt of anxiety shot through Lise. She let the handheld ring twice before picking it up off the bathroom floor - she didn’t want to seem too eager.

“Hello?” her accent was thick.

“Is this Lise Delorme?” a gentle feminine voice on the other end of the line asked.

“This is she.”

“I’m calling from Algonquin Bay Medical, I have the results of your sexual assault exam.”

There was a pause. She was clearly waiting for acknowledgement on Delorme’s part.

“Oui,” Delorme shook her head, feeling like a fool. “Oui, I mean yes.”

After a rustling of what sounded like paper on the other end of the line, the woman continued. “There was no evidence of trauma to the vaginal walls, no evidence of foreign objects, no evidence of DNA -”

But Lise had stopped listening at that point. 

_ No evidence _ . 

She repeated in her head: _ no evidence. _

“The kit is conclusive Ms. Delorme.”

Lise was shaken back to reality by the sound of her name. 

“I can confidently say that there is no evidence of rape or any kind of sexual activity.”

Lise was absolutely breathless with relief. “Thank you.” 

Lise hung up the phone before the young woman could even finish naming a list of organizations and resources that would continue to support her after this traumatic event. But none of that mattered to Lise. She would have to be cleared by the department psychologist anyways. 

Her face was drained of colour as she stepped out of the bathroom and tiptoed into the living room.

Kelly jumped up on the sofa, turning around to look at Lise. “So?” she asked gently.

“I wasn’t raped. No evidence of sexual assault.”

“That’s good?” Kelly asked in this uncertain way. She had never been in a situation like this before - not even with any of her college friends. 

Lise nodded. “It’s reassuring to know that I was right, that my mind wasn’t playing these tricks on me.” Lise moved to come and sit beside Kelly.

“Was there ever any doubt Lise? You headbutted the dickhead!”

Lise laughed, even thought in the pit of her stomach, she knew.

There had been doubts.

* * *

“Do you have a property on Sparrow Lake? Residence 4318?” McLeod asked. He had just finished his interview with Dameon Granger, when Cardinal had asked him to sit in on an interview with the mother: Beth Granger. They needed to ascertain if she was an accessory in any way. 

“No, no, that's my late husband’s.” Beth replied, as she rubbed her arthritic fingers. “He died over ten years ago. I haven't been there in over a decade.” She looked from McLeod, to Cardinal who was standing in the corner of the room observing. “What is this about?” She asked Cardinal. “How come my son didn’t come home last night?”

“What was your son’s relationship with Zoe Carter?” McLeod ignored Beth’s question.

“I don’t understand. Zoe helped me with flowers. She was just polite. Always polite.”

“And what did Zoe think of Dameon, Mrs. Granger?”

There was silence.

Beth almost seemed offended.

“They were friendly!” She took a moment to collect herself before she continued more calmly. “Dameon isn’t very social and I always worry that he’ll never settle down, find a girlfriend.” Beth smiled at a memory. “He always smiled when Zoe was around, she would always talk to him. She told me once …” she paused. Her brows furrowed. She had connected the dots. She understood the questions now. She nearly let out a gasp. “Zoe said that they messaged each other sometimes and I didn’t need to worry about him finding someone. I was, I was happy! I loved Zoe! And, and a few weeks ago I found him kissing her in the hallway when I came in to wash my hands from the soil. They, they didn’t see me! I didn’t want to embarrass them!”

John could see the panic flooding through her eyes. The panic of a parent, concerned about their child.

Beth Granger didn’t know that her son was a monster.

“And you didn’t think to share this information Mrs. Granger?” McLeod scoffed.

“You never asked about Dameon before, only Zoe.”

McLeod pulled out a picture with an evidence label on it. “We found Zoe’s windbreaker at your house. In Dameon’s room.”

“I assumed he had invited her up. A grown son doesn’t want his mother knowing about these things!”

“And what about this?” McLeod pulled out more images. “We found a gold dreamcatcher necklace that Nina Beaucage has identified as once belonging to her. As well as a pair of soiled women’s panties, and a silver ring.”

Beth gained the courage, looking towards the silent man in the corner, she asked: “Has Dameon done something?”

Cardinal took a step forward and sat down in the chair across from Beth. “A few nights ago your son was arrested for the kidnapping and sexual assault of our officer, detective Lise Delorme.” Cardinal did not pause, despite the horrifying gasp that had left Beth’s mouth and the tears that began to fall from her eyes. “Today he was also charged with the rape of Nina Beaucage, and once the result’s from his DNA sample come back, he will be charged with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Zoe Carter.”

“No!” Beth shouted the minute John had said Zoe’s name. “Not Zoe. No! He didn’t. I … how can I believe this?” Beth muttered in denial. “He’s my son. He’s my son?”

* * *

He brought home Chinese for dinner. It was Lise’s favourite. 

Afterwards, Kelly had convinced them to play Gin Rummy.

It had been … fun.

“Well it’s getting late,” Kelly looked at her watch - it was only nine, but she knew Lise would be tired and her father was emotionally drained. “I’ll probably just go to my room and watch a movie, call me if you guys need anything?”

“Thanks Kel,” John said as he scooped the leftover Chinese into a container that he could toss into the fridge. 

“She’s right,” Lise stated. “I’m probably going to head to bed."

“Alright,” John said, moving over to the sink to wash his hands. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.” 

When John entered the master bedroom,  _ their bedroom _ , Lise was already under the covers. 

John went to the bathroom. He washed his face, looking at the lines and wrinkles, and frowned; _god he looked fucking old_. _He looked tired_. He brushed his teeth and then headed out into the bedroom. He stripped off his clothes, except for his boxers, and placed them in the dirty hamper. Before he pulled back the covers he stopped for a moment and considered that Lise might be more comfortable if he wore a shirt. John opened up the second drawer on the dresser and pulled out a grey cotton t-shirt, before slipping it over his broad shoulders. 

He pulled back the covers.

Lise was awake.

There was a clear divot in the mattress as John entered the bed, his weight distributing among the springs before he settled in more comfortably and pulled the blankets up. 

He was going to ask her about the results from the sexual assault exam.

But he didn’t have the courage.

Lise yearned for him to reach out to her, to bring him into his strong arms and let her fall asleep on his chest. But he kept his distance.

Instead he just asked: “Do you want the lights out?”

* * *

Kelly had decided to extend her visit, given recent events. John was thankful because at times he felt like he needed a buffer between himself and Lise.

Even Lise thought it was good having her around. The girls were attempting to cook together, they made fun of John frequently, and Lise was remembering that she’s allowed to move on. In some ways despite being shot last year, this time had been scarier, because John hadn’t been there. He hadn’t been there to hold her hand.

* * *

“Cardinal, DNA results have just come in,” Dyson said as she poked her head out of her office.

This had been the last piece of evidence they were waiting on. Once they had the DNA results the case would be solid and the District Attorney would get a conviction, no loose ends. 

“Do you think Lise could join?” John asked, and Noelle looked perplexed. “She’s finished with her appointment in,” he looked at his watch, “thirteen minutes.”

Over the past week Delorme had been meeting with the department's psychologist. It was a requirement if she wanted to be cleared. And she did. She wanted things to go back to normal. At work. With John.  _ Why couldn’t they just communicate with each other like other normal healthy adults? _

“Sorry John,” Dyson said. “She has to be cleared first.”

“I know.” Cardinal said. “But she’s reached the required hours, you’ll know today if she’s cleared or not.”

Noelle paused. “Do you think she’s ready?”

“Yes!” John replied quickly. “Her lack of work has been driving us both crazy, it really brings out the silence in the house.”

Dyson didn’t know whether to laugh or wince. “Well, you two never were big communicators.”

John sighed. His boss was right. He just needed to talk to Lise. 

“When, and if, she shows me that the psychologist has signed off, then she can join you.”

* * *

“Thanks for getting me in on this,” Lise said to John as he held open the door to the forensics lab.

Delorme had handed over the paperwork to Dyson as soon as her last session was complete. She was cleared for duty!

“Well we were all eager for you to get back to work.” 

Lise laughed, feeling a sense of confidence and security run over her as she entered the lab and Dev greeted her with a flirty smile.

“Well if it isn’t my favourite detective!” Dev gave her a big hug. “I’m very pleased to have you back, at least I won't have to deal with this cranky one on my own any more!”

Lise smiled, sending a loving look towards John who gave Dev a ferocious stare.

“Right, down to business!” Dev clapped his hands together before pulling up the report on his computer. “I am happy to report that Dameon Granger is a 100% match to the semen found on Zoe Carter. We also found epithelial on the tickets to Toronto - it looks like he bought them to trick us.”

“This is good Dev. Coupled with his confession, Zoe’s case is unbreakable.”

“It gets better.” Dev said with a cocky grin, and Cardinal was too curious to even care that the younger man had his hand on Lise’s arm.

“We matched Granger’s DNA to samples taken from two reported rapes in Sudbury three years ago.”

Lise looked back to John. “How much do you want to bet those girls report missing a ring and a pair of panties?”

Cardinal knew she was right. “That’s out of our jurisdiction, but I bet they’ll want to prosecute too.”

“And Nina?” Lise implored, remembering the promises they had made to her.

“He’s a match.” Dev said obviously. “Plus with her identification, the sketch, and the necklace. Granger is going to be convicted.”

Lise smiled before opening her arms out for a congratulatory hug. “Great job Dev.”

“You too detectives.” Dev smiled like a kid in a candy store as they parted. “Cardinal.” Dev offered his hand to the gentleman, and they shook on it.

* * *

It had been a little over a week since the incident. John had never asked about the results of the rape kit. Lise just assumed that he read them - like every other officer on the case. Even though there was no evidence of penetration, even though they had gotten to the cabin in time, Lise didn’t like everyone knowing. It felt like a different kind of violation. 

But with John, it was different. She wanted him to know. She needed him to know if they were going to move forward. If he was going to stop acting so scared. Lise was not fragile. 

“John, we need to talk.” Lise said confidently, her accent thick because she was in control.

John rinsed his hands off in the sink, leaving the dishes to be cleaned another day. 

“You’re right.” He said, although part of him was terrified ‘we need to talk’ meant ‘we need to break-up’.

“I wasn’t raped John.” Lise blurted out, not knowing how else to start this conversation. Given their quiet natures, it seemed easier to be blunt and honest rather than skirt around the issue. “We can talk about it, John. I think we both have some feelings that we need to share if we are going to move on with each other.”

His jaw relaxed, she still wanted to be with him. “I was waiting for you to be … ready.”

Lise couldn’t help but smirk. John could be such a sweet fool sometimes. “I’m ready John. I’m sorry if I wasn’t communicating that with you.”

“It’s just, Catherine didn’t want to talk about her illness, she preferred therapy…” he stopped, not wanting to think about vile Dr. Bell. 

Lise took a step towards him. “Well, I want to talk about it John. I don’t need any more therapy. I just need you to stop tip-toeing around me! I need you to stop being afraid to touch me! Because god, I want you to touch me, to comfort me.” Lise calmed down slightly, sincerity returning to her eyes as she metaphorically reached out for John. “I trust you with my life John. I’d never be afraid of you like that.” She brought a hand up to his arm, and gently stroked the outside, feeling the material of his shirt crinkle beneath her touch. “So I need you to share what you’re feeling, because you’re avoiding me.”

“You’re right, I’m afraid to touch you.” John winced. “I don’t want you to feel like … I’m worried you’ll have memories?”

Lise sighed, he was only acting so distant because it was his way of trying to protect her. “Truthfully, I don’t remember much John,” Lise confessed. “But what I do remember is the way you pulled me into your arms and held me - and you didn’t give a damn about anyone seeing us. You made me feel safe, right away.  _ Right away _ John.”

Lise felt her heart soar when John opened his arms for her, tentatively stroking her and encouraging her into an embrace. Lise stepped forward into the hug, resting her head on Cardinal’s chest. “I could never be afraid of you John,” she whispered before pulling back to look into Cardinal’s eyes. “Besides, Granger isn’t the first dick who thought he could grab my ass, or grind on me while dancing; usually I manage to break their noses,” she smiled, remembering that she did, in fact, break Dameon’s nose, even if he had overpowered her in the end. 

John smiled, feeling more comfortable already. And now that she was in his arms he didn’t want to let go, he pulled her back to his chest and placed a kiss at the top of her head.

“That was a terrifying experience,” Lise added as they began to sway slightly in each other’s arms, “but I am okay John; and I love you.”

Cardinal sent her a smile of admiration before he lifted her chin up. “I love you too.” He studied her eyes, asking for permission, before fixating his gaze on her lips. He bridged the distance between them, bending at the back to reach her stature before placing a soft little kiss to her lips. He could feel the smile form on her lips as he went in for a second kiss, open mouthed, inviting. Their breathing became heavy before his kisses lingered to the corner of her mouth, then her cheek, next her forehead. “I should have said something sooner,” John admitted, “but I didn’t want to be an asshole. I didn’t want you to think all I cared about was whether he did, or didn't, you know?”

Lise hummed, her body radiating in the feel of his lips against her skin. “Oui, I understand. But, he’s just another prick in the line of criminals you and I are going to deal with.”

John chuckled before reaching towards the hair tie that held Delorme’s bun in place. He gently snapped the band free, allowing Lise’s hair to fall to the side. He ran a hand through her tresses, massaging her tight scalp before tenderly tucking the hair behind her ear.

“Well this was a lesson in communication,” he whispered, his voice husky with affection. 

“Yes, we’re terrible at it!” Lise laughed, forcing her to display a toothy grin that punched Cardinal in the gut. 

He brought the back of his hand up to her cheek, feeling her smooth young skin against his weathered hand. “We need to open up more.”

“We probably do.” Lise agreed.

And John’s gaze shifted just behind Lise, focusing on nothing but the thoughts going through his mind, before his gaze shifted back towards her with a smile. “I think I have an idea.”

* * *

They were going to tell Dyson.

They were going to make it official.

They were partners; and they were living together; in a totally non-platonic way now.

“Can I help you guys?” Dyson asked, the confusion evident in the lines on her forehead. 

Delorme took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Dyson’s desk while Cardinal closed the door behind them.

“What’s this about?” she asked. The two didn’t have any case work to discuss now that the Carter case was closed.

“John and I,” Delrome started, looking up at Cardinal as he moved to sit down in the free chair beside her, “we, well…” she looked to John for help.

“We would like to report a consensual workplace relationship with HR.”

Noelle smiled. It was about fucking time. “Well if this isn’t good news!” Dyson nearly cheered and Lise let out a breath of nerves. “McLeod owes me fifty bucks!”

John sent his boss a glare and Dyson explained: “The office had a ‘will they’ or ‘won't they’ bet going on.” 

Lise would have laughed if she hadn’t felt so embarrassed.  _ Had everyone known?  _

“I’m so happy for you two.” Dyson stood up, wanting to give Lise a friendly hug. “You’re wonderful together, you know that,” she said as she affectionately touched Cardinal’s shoulder. 

Lise cleared her throat as she scratched her nose with nerves. “We were wondering, do you think HR will still let us be partners?”

Dyson smiled. “In a small precinct like ours, I don’t see why not. Besides, you're the best team I’ve got.”

* * *

“Are you sure you guys are going to be okay?” Kelly asked, for nearly the fifth time as they stood in front of the bus station, Kelly’s suitcase in John’s hands before he set it down on the pavement in front of his daughter.

“Come on Kel, you don’t need to worry; Lise will help take care of me.”

“So long as you remember to feed her!” Kelly joked, and all three cheered up.

“You already stayed longer than you needed to;” Cardinal explained, knowing how his daughter felt about Algonquin Bay, knowing about the bad memories. “Besides, you’re going to want to have some fun with your friends as the weather gets nice. Plus, the summer job’s starting soon,” he added.

Kelly gave her father and his  _ partner _ \- because John refused to use the word girlfriend - a sideways glance before stating: “You guys, just want me out of the house.”

“Non.” Lise quickly said as John joined in her protest. 

“I’m teasing!” Kelly said with a smile, noticing the small look of relief shared between the couple. “Okay, I’ll call you guys when I get back to the apartment.” She gave Lise a nice hug before turning towards her father. “I’m glad you’re gonna be happy dad.”

John scoffed. “You always were the one who took care of me, not the other way around.”

Kelly smiled. “I love you dad.”

“Love you too kid.”

* * *

They were alone.

There was no case weighing down their minds; there was no Kelly in the guest room; they were alone. 

Nothing had changed at first. Cardinal had made dinner and then Lise helped him with the dishes. He washed, she dried.

“John?” Lise asked as she set the last fork into the cutlery drawer as John drained the sink and put away the drying rack.

“Hmm?” He muttered, turning so that his lower back rested against the counter.

Lise looked up to him, taking a step until she was squarely aligned with his shoulders. She brought her hands to his waist, and pulled herself towards him, her breasts brushing against the underside of his chest. “I want to be with you,” she whispered. “I’ve waited so long.”

John looked at her with that serious expression, his eyes conveying more than his words ever could. “I want to be with you too.”

Lise brought a hand up to his jaw, searching his eyes as she felt the pleasurable sting of his bristle across the palm of her hand. “Then let’s make love. No more waiting.”

Cardinal smiled, his hands were resting at Lise’s hips, before he boldly ran them over her ass. He sent her a playful little smile as he raised a brow. “Ready?” was all he said, and the Lise let out a little french curse as John picked her up; she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her from the kitchen, down the hallway, and pushed open the bedroom door before gently displaying her down upon the bed. 

He brought a hand up to her face, pulling out her bun so that he could play with her hair. “You’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”

Lise sent him a cynical look as she moved her hands to cup his face.

“Really,” he defended, trying not to laugh at the playful energy being exchanged between them. “You have this air of confidence, and yet vulnerability, and it’s so fucking sexy.” He trailed a finger along her jaw. “Your face is defined, and I get lost in your eyes daily. And your lips,” his thumb pulled down on Lise’s bottom lip, parting her mouth. “Fucking, indescribable.”

Lise smiled, before she pulled his face down to meet hers. It was a heated kiss. There was nothing sweet and romantic about it. It was wet and it was messy and Lise never wanted it to stop. Soon her hands got carried away, moving to the buttons of John’s shirt. She wanted skin on skin. She wanted him naked. 

Cardinal grunted into her mouth, feeling the urgency in Lise’s fingers. His cock swollen and ready beneath his pants. 

“I want your clothes off.” Lise demanded, feeling the rigid length of him brush against her thigh. It was exhilarating, knowing he was hard for her, knowing he wanted to be inside of her.

Carindal responded by helping Lise with the buttons on his shirt, still kissing her mouth as he hovered over her on the bed. When the buttons were undone he quickly pulled the shirt off his shoulders and tossed it to the floor.

“I want to feel you over me.” Lise asked, scooting herself higher up on the bed. 

Cardinal followed her, his knees making depressions on the duvet as he climbed over Lise’s body. He paused for a moment, just to admire her. But the sweetness of the moment was shattered when his hands went to the button on her jeans. 

Lise swore as John roughly pulled the tight denim from her legs, a thrill pebbling her skin as the cold air brushed against her thighs. 

“Shirt too?” John asked as he tossed the black jeans onto the floor, taking a brief moment to curse under his breath as he adjusted himself within his own pants.

Lise quickly pulled the white blouse over her head, revealing a white lace bra with scalloped edges.

John felt his hands tremble as he reached out for her skin. She was beautiful beneath him, those fucking little white panties he had been washing for months looking even more delicious against Lise’s smooth skin.

His fingers traced over her collarbone lightly and Lise let out a gasp, raising her knees as John wedged his place between her. 

She brought her hands to his hair the moment he placed a wet kiss to her shoulder, his lips and teeth nibbling at the perfect, slightly freckled skin, as he worked his way over her body - the feeling of his scratchy beard along her chest a maddening thrill that made Lise’s centre pulse. Her hand began to run over the plane of his back, feeling his body heat surround her as he worked above her - it was a feeling she loved, being surrounded by a man, feeling the strong plains of his back, and the pressure from his chest. She let out a moan of pleasure when he kissed over her bra, teasing what was to come. When he pulled down the cup of her left bra, her breast spilling out for his pleasure Lise nearly sobbed with lust.

“Look at you,” John whispered, mostly to himself as he admired the hard bud of her nipple, jutting out and desperate. He placed a tender little kiss just to the side of her areola and Lise wanted to scream with frustration. Sensing her squirm beneath him he sucked the nipple into his mouth while his hand pushed down on Lise’s stomach.

“Fuck,” she swore, closing her eyes and allowing her head to fall back as his tongue flicked against her nipple. Lise arched her back into the touch, allowing her to unhook her bra strap. 

Not to be distracted from his task, John pushed the bra aside, allowing Lise to remove her arms, all while placing kisses to her chest. 

Lise snuck her hand between their bodies as he continued to tease her nipples, his free hand joining in to massage her breast. Lise bumped into John’s hand that was resting on her stomach as she attempted to make her journey towards her panties.

“What do you think you’re doing?” John asked, his hand catching Delorme’s as it rested over her pussy.

“I want to touch myself.”

John felt his cock twitch against Lise’s leg. “Go ahead,” he gave her permission, his hand lightly hovering over Lise’s as he dipped her hand into her panties.

It was absolutely maddening, rubbing herself off, while she felt the weight of his hand against her own, the heat of his mouth all along her chest, the bristles of his stubble against her breasts. She was so wet and worked up that her hand was nearly slipping as he ran her fingers through her folds, edging herself on. 

“Your tits are perfect, and your skin is so smooth.” He pulled away from her breasts, noticing the rise and fall or her chest as her breathing picked up. “My stubble has made a mess of your chest, you’re all raw and scratched up.” John noted proudly, a very male part of him aroused by the fact that he had left his mark on her.

“John, John please!” Lise whispered, in a soft tone filled with need that he had never heard from the woman before. 

Heading her call John pushed aside the fabric at Lise’s centre.

She was soaking wet.

He could barely believe it.

“Holy shit, you’re so wet.” He noticed the heat fall to Lise’s cheeks, before her mouth parted in a gasp the moment he slipped a finger inside of her.

He could feel her walls surrounding his finger and he could only imagine how tightly she was going to grip his cock.

“Fuck,” he thrust his hips against her thigh as his finger began to pump inside of her, quickly adding a second as he curled his fingers to reach that spot deep inside.

“I’m close John.”

“Can you take one more?”

Lise barely managed to nod as Cardinal pushed a third finger inside of her dripping cunt. She groaned out, strangled sounds in a heavy thick accent slipping from her lips as her legs began to quack.

“That’s it, look at me sweetheart,” Cardinal asked, his free hand running through Lise’s hair as he looked at her flushed face. 

When Lise looked up John was gazing at her, his eyes soft, focused, searching.

She came as the breath was knocked out of her lungs. 

John had to steady himself as he felt her pulse around his fingers, her knees digging into his hips as she attempted to close her legs. John thrust his tongue into her mouth, pulling out two of his fingers and allowing his middle finger to lazily tease her before he kissed his way down her body. He was half off the bed when he made his way down to her cunt. He pulled off her panties, her folds glistening and her opening pumping out her juices as the little ripples from her orgasm fluttered through her body. He kissed her knee lightly, his finger still teasing her body before he thrust his face between her legs, his tongue licking along her labia.

“Oh fuck!” Lise grabbed the bed sheets, fisting them as he ate her out, bringing her towards a second high. Lise almost began to feel light headed, her vision blurring as the tears collected in the corners of her eyes. “Enough John, please, I need to see you.” Lise begged, running the risk of having her clit overstimulated. 

Cardinal swallowed.

“Please John, I want to see all of you.”

Cardinal stood up, his hand going to the button on his pants, staring at Lise as he slowly undid the zipper. He stepped out of his pants, relieved at the freedom before self-consciously pulling down his boxer shorts and stepping out of them. 

His doubts were eased when Lise smiled. Just as he was about to kneel onto the bed Lise rose onto her elbows, pushing herself up awkwardly until she was on her knees, the mattress bouncing as she half crawled towards the edge of the bed. She sat on her knees, her feet cupping her ass before she brought her hands to John’s chest, running over the firm plans before placing a few kisses to his stomach. 

John cursed when she took him into her hand, firmly holding the base as she admired him with a cocky little grin on her face. He could feel her hot breath mere centimetres from the head of his leaking cock - his legs nearly spasming as she began to firmly stroke him.

“Lise,” John struggled to get her attention as she was now gently massaging the smooth skin of his sack. “Lise, it’s been a long time for me,” his cheeks turned beat red with embarrassment and arousal as she tugged on his balls; “I’m worried I’m not going to last very long.”

“Then, why don’t we take the edge off? Hmm?” She said, her accent thick as she ran the flat plan of her tongue along his shaft.

“Fucking hell,” he swore when the head of his cock slipped into her mouth. He closed his eyes, savoring in the feeling of her throat, but he didn’t think he would be able to take it much longer. “I don’t know what kind of refractory period we might be working with sweetheart?”

Lise pulled away with a confident smile, before she raised herself off her ass, still standing on her knees. She tilted her chin up, indicating that she wanted a kiss from him.

John bent down, his hands going to Lise’s shoulder blades as they met each other in another kiss. 

“I want you inside me,” Lise whispered when they parted, her arms wrapped around his neck and trapping him at her level. “I want you to come inside me John - I don’t care if it’s quick, I just want to feel you.”

“Fuck.” John licked his lips before consuming her in another kiss. “Get back onto the bed.” John instructed as his body followed her movements, until Lise’s head was comfortably resting against one of the pillows. “You’re sure about this?” He asked as he began to pepper light kisses across her face, his hand lightly teasing a nipple to make sure her body was still as ready for penetration as possible.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she spread her legs wider for emphasis, sucking his lip into her mouth on their next kiss.

John took himself in hand as he ran the head of his cock against Lise’s clit. Her folds were still covered in her juices as he began to thrust his shaft along her pussy lips, coating himself in the evidence of her arousal. 

“You’re sure I can finish inside of you?” he asked as he grabbed hold of her knee, building her up with each sweep of his cock over her clit.

“Yes John,” she grunted, “we both know I’m on the pill.” They both let out a playful gasp of breath before Lise added, “I want to feel your cum inside of me John.”

“Who knew you were so dirty Lise Delorme?” The head of his cock was now sitting at her entrance, just waiting to push inside.

“And who knew,” she paused as she felt the tip push inside, “you’d like it so much?” 

In that moment, Cardinal thrust forward, both of them swearing as his cock bottomed out inside of her. 

“You feel amazing.” John gasped, only half pulling out before entering her again, getting used to the tight feel of her sucking against his heated skin.

“It’s good John, it’s good, keep going,” Lise encouraged, wanting him to pick up his pace.

John takes the encouragement, thrusting into her faster, deeper, hitting all those places that make Lise shut her eyes and bite on her bottom lip. She’s moaning out in French now, and he knows that must be a good fucking sign, because he’s barely holding on himself. Soon the smack of his balls against her skin and squelching of her pussy is the only sound ringing in his ears.

“I want you to come.” Lise moans. “Please John.”

And he breaks. His movements become erratic. Lise can feel his seed coating her insides, and the heat of it makes her bring a hand down to her clit, she’s rubbing quickly, still feeling him inside of her, and now he's panting against her ear as he nearly collapses on her - it’s so much sensation and warmth she comes.

“That was,” but John finds he can’t finish the sentence. He’s too tired and too sore in all the good ways. He rolls over, flopping onto the mattress, and tugs Lise unceremoniously to his side. “I haven’t had that much fun in years.”

Lise laughs, snuggling into his side, feeling accomplished. “At least, we know we are compatible in this way too.”

John smirks before kissing her shoulder. “Definitely compatible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands off you at work, finally knowing what's underneath.” He ran a hand from her hip to stomach in order to demonstrate. There was a beat, a moment of silence where they lay with one another; in this moment of shared space and silence it felt like they had become one, even more so than during the sex, they felt like  _ partners. _ “Is this what it’s going to be like Lise?” he whispers. 

“What?”

“Happiness.”

“I hope so. I don’t know?” Lise responded, honest as always. 

John kissed the side of her head. “I love you, and I need to tell you that frequently because you deserve to hear it.”

Lise smiled, turning in Cardinal’s embrace in order to face him. “I’ll always love you John.”

And it was good.

And it was easy.

Because they were _ partners. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it lovelies! I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
